


Kenbosho

by ViperAssassin



Category: Pocket Monsters: Black & White | Pokemon Black and White Versions
Genre: Amnesiac Kuro, Emphysema Kuro, Gen, Mostly gen fic, Other, Pokemon - Freeform, Pokemon Trainers, black and white, coughing up blood, mute Kuro, pokemon battles, pokemon: black and white, possible yaoi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-10
Updated: 2015-01-15
Packaged: 2018-03-06 23:40:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 33,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3152639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViperAssassin/pseuds/ViperAssassin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the game, you start out with Black. He's got no background story, and no idea of his life. He's introduced to his friends, his own mother, and even his hometown, Nuvema. <br/>What if there was a reason for that? What of Black, Kuro, had... amnesia? <br/>This is Kuro, taken in by Heiko Shirosaki(Mom). He's got a few medical problems, but he WILL be the best Pokemon trainer Unova has ever seen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Genesis

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Choco-bunni](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Choco-bunni).



_**Chapter One: Genesis** _

* * *

Have you ever woke up and found that your mind was entirely  _blank_? That, no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't recall anything? Absolutely nothing? That you couldn't remember even a single thing? Not your name, not what you looked like, where you came from, where you  _where_ , who was close to you—if anyone  _was_... Not a thing. Have you ever had that happen?

Not many have. Of course, it isn't rare—really, it's happened to a whole group of people—but it just goes to say that, most likely, if you're reading this now, you haven't had that happen to you.

It's called amnesia. It's a condition that has to do with your mind, your memories. Memories are something that's important to us, even the ones we've convinced ourselves we  _want_  to forget. Yes, even those we tend to hold close, if subconsciously at best. Memories make us who we are, they always have a hand in how we decide things, what we do, how we act, what choices we make depending on anything. It all has to do with our memories, whether we know it, or not. Like it, or not. Want it, or not.

To loose your memories completely—it's like loosing yourself. Loosing who you are, what makes you you. It's like... your whole world.

But when you loose that much, loose  _everything_  like that, and you don't even  _remember_  loosing it in the first place—that you can't even remember what you  _lost_ , you don't even know what you  _had_ —that's what really hits, before all else, when you wake up and find that everything's just... gone.

It's not there. You don't know where it went, or how to find it. Hell, you don't even know where it should go if you ever do. You don't know where to start looking for it, you don't know where you  _are_...

The first thing you feel? Your memories are gone, now, you don't remember the name of this feeling, this emotion. What's it called?

It's called  _misery_.

You're miserable. You can't recall anything. Who are you? What were you? Did you have anyone? Did anyone even miss you?

That second feeling? Yeah, it's called loneliness.

Then you feel a whole rush of emotions. Panic, you start to breath too fast. Breathlessness, you're light-headed. Then puzzlement—you don't know if that light-headiness is because your mind's been wiped completely clean, or your breaths are coming in short gasps and not enough oxygen is getting to your brain. You don't know, you can' tell. The next feeling you begin to feel is hopelessness. You can't tell, what else can't you tell? You can't tell what had happened to make you like this, because you don't  _remember—_ Then you feel pain, from whatever had happened to make your mind a blank slate, to make you absolutely  _nobody_ —which brings on confusion, because shouldn't you have felt the pain first thing?

No, because, before anything, before the misery, all you felt was  _numb_.

 **(- _Pokemon_** ~

Nuvema town was at the very bottom of the Unova region, right there before Route 18 and everything. People came here to relax, to forget about their worries; they came here when they wanted everything to slow down. It was refreshing, if anything. Nuvema was a place where you could just sit back and watch the clouds roll by and not have that lingering feeling that you knew you were forgetting something important that you should be doing. It was a place you didn't have to worry. Nothing really happened here. There wasn't a gym, there was just other people that you could meet with and converse and make connections, perhaps for just the sake of making friends. The people who lived in the coastal town were kind, they were hospitable, and everything was fabulous.

Anywhere in Unova you went, you would hear people talking about the wonders of the bridges, or the amazement of walking through Castelia City for the first time, or the utter awe-inspiring site of the Pokemon League; the challenge of Victory Road; the sweet simplicity of Driftveil; the entertaining walks through Nimbasa as you greet and watch the street performers and many other enjoyments; the soothing scenery of the White Forest; even the historical beauty and interesting past of the City of Opelucid.

You won't hear any amazing, awesome tales about Nuvema Town, and that's what makes it so attractive. It's normal, it's just so  _not there_. Sometimes, people just don't want to do anything, and they want someplace to go and not do it where it's okay to do nothing at all. That's the beauty of Nuvema Town. Endless days of refreshing  _nada_ , and you're still able to enjoy and live life to the fullest.

Today, though—and not even too unfortunately, either—was not one of those days. In fact, those days wouldn't really fully return for a few years after today at all.

Of course, our wonderful townspeople were not aware of the inevitable change that was fast approaching their lives.

"Hey, hey, Heiko!" A tall man with a full head of dark navy hair waved his way over to the aforementioned woman, who was outside of her home doing the days laundry. She had pretty chocolate-colored hair that was pulled back in a tight ponytail that started at the base of her neck, pale skin, and gorgeous blue eyes. Heiko Shirosaki lived alone in a rather nice house that sat towards the center of the town. She was actually relatively new around Unova—she had moved from the Sinnoh region after the death of her sister Clarence in search of a fresh start—and was a very sweet young woman, liked by the rest of the townspeople for her charisma and endless kindness, even if she was a little reserved about her past. She had journeyed about a year or two through the region of Unova once she had moved and had met a kind man named Eiji Shirosaki, whom she had married. Unfortunately, the two had lived in Driftveil City for a few months, where Eiji had been employed in the Cold Storage, when the man had been tragically lost in an accident at work. Then, Heiko quit the Pokemon Training business and had settled down in Nuvema Town, where she was now with many friends and had a steady lifestyle.

Heiko turned, and smiled, setting down the sheet she'd been pulling off of the line that ran across her back yard, just like any other yard you could find in Nuvema. "Aah, Josept. Hello."

Josept Suzuki was a jolly young man, married to the beautiful blond Clara Suzuki. They had a adorable young daughter named Bianca, who, as aloof as she was, was endearing to Heiko, who enjoyed talking with the girl. "How are you this fine morning?"

Yes. It was a beautiful day, the sun just rising over the calm waves of the coastline, the fresh air whirling around them and the few clouds in the sky dancing around each other. It was early summer, now, so you could smell the many aromas that accompanied the season. Flowers, nectar, grass, the smells that flew through the wind were almost exotic but still homey. It was an amazing thing. "I'm great, actually. The day is still early, and you can just tell it's going to be gorgeous outside."

Josept chuckled, helping her gather the rest of the laundry. "Absolutely. My dear little Bianca just can't wait to get outside to play."

"Yes," Heiko laughed. "And she'll most likely badger that poor Cheren into joining her."

"The boy's too serious all the time, he could use someone like my Bianca to get him up and living. Some childhood fun will do him some good, especially for the future. Character building, you know."

"You just want all the kids in town as adorable and care-free as Bianca," she teased.

He grinned, raising his hands. "Guilty." He didn't sound at all sorry, either, and Heiko didn't resist another laugh.

The two finished the laundry, and Heiko turned to Josept and thanked him for the help. "But," she finished, as he gave her his welcome. "You should hurry back home now—we won't want poor Clara getting paranoid now would we? It'll be the talk of the town," she went on as she turned to go inside. "The poor girl's husband cheating on her with the less-than-beautiful new girl."

"You're more than beautiful," Josept argued," and not so new anymore, huh?" Then he grinned. "But, yeah, you're right. Clare-bear misses me something terribly by now, I should think!"

Heiko chuckled, rolling her eyes. She set the basket of clean laundry just inside the front door before swatting one of the freshly washed towels at the man's hands. "Get, you." She teased.

"I'm getting, I'm getting!"

Heiko shook her head and watched Josept run away in mock fear with a twitch on her lips. She turned, when he was gone, back to the door and grabbed the basket once more before entering the house. As she walked, she couldn't help but contemplate her friend Josept. His daughter Bianca was simply too cute. Heiko had always wanted children to look after—she'd gotten many compliments over the years, people telling her what a great mother she would make—but she just didn't feel right about marrying again after what had happened with Eiji. She missed him dearly, but she knew early on that she wouldn't get anywhere if she'd stayed around and sulked and never stopped mourning. Sure, he'd been a downright amazing guy, but things happened, and there's no way to stop them, especially once they'd happened. She'd promised herself a full two weeks of mourning, and had then done her best to get over it. She knew that was what Eiji would have wanted.

Heiko set the basket next to the couch in the living room and made her way to the kitchen. She'd fold the laundry and put it away later. But once she got to the tiled room, she had to resist to urge to either groan, shake her head, or chuckle in slight amusement. "Oono-san. I shouldn't be surprised. Of course, I must always ask—why can't you eat breakfast in your own home?"

"Ano, Heiko- _chan_!" Ravi whined slightly. He was such a child sometimes. "Shirosaki-san's meals are the best! I just can't stay away!"

Heiko raised an eyebrow quizzically, even though they did this every morning. "And you need to break into my house for that?"

He hugged the pillow of the seat to his chest, looking at her indignantly. "I did not break in," he stressed. "Breaking in to someone's home is illegal! I was congregating to a friend's abode, perhaps without permission.." He gave her a sheepish look, despite giving the same excuse every singly day.

Heiko sighed. Continuing to the fridge. "The oatmeal cookies are in the pantry. You know where to go."

And he did, unfortunately. Ravi Oono gave her a charming grin and dashed out of the kitchen to the pantry that resided down the hall. No matter how many times she fended the slightly-infuriating but endearing teen off, he always found a way to come back. Heiko would have turned him in for harassment if she didn't care about him so much. He was seventeen, without parents and living with his grandmother. She felt some pity for him—plus, his smiles always managed to brighten anybody's day. Of course, it was still annoying traits like these that she grudgingly let slide, but still protested against halfheartedly—and everyone knew it, including Ravi. Every morning, like clockwork, Ravi would somehow end up sitting at her dining room table, waiting to be served breakfast. Heiko wasn't quite. sure how this began, but it was how their relationship was, now. Sometimes, Ravi came for lunch and other times dinner as well, but it was always, always, breakfast. Most times, she'd wake up, get ready for the day, and know tat if she walked downstairs to the kitchen, Ravi would be right there. And he always was, when she finally did.

Somedays she couldn't help but be grateful. It was always a constant in her new life, now, to see Ravi look up at her and smile, every morning. It was a great start to the day, at least. And she trusted him not to do anything in her home. He was a good kid.

Heaving a short sigh that didn't really signify any feeling whatsoever, Heiko reached under the counter and lifted up a frying pan. She turned the stove on high and opened the fridge to get some eggs. She didn't know why, really, Ravi called her cooking the best. It seemed like a troublesome effort, to her, in the least. Her methods was quite simple; crack the eggs, throw in some seasoning, then get the whole thing done as fast as possible with the eggs still edible in the end. Sure, cooking was fun  _sometimes_ , but tat didn't mean she enjoyed doing it every meal every day. Still, her cooking got compliments left and right when she did. She supposed it was just one of those things in life that just  _was_.

After the eggs had finished cooking, she flipped the sizzling omelet onto a plate and turned the stove off. She set the pan in the sink and sprinkled some salt over her breakfast before sitting down at the table in Ravi's previously occupied chair with a glass of milk and a bowl of sliced fruit, along with a slice of toast.

As she ate her breakfast, she heard her back door, which was located in the kitchen, open behind her. She turned and smiled at the man who walked in. "Ah, Ando-san, good morning!"

The coffee haired veteran Trainer smiled at her, tugging the collar of his black trench coat up. Heiko had to wonder how on earth the man wasn't too hot in that, he wore it every day! "Ohaiyo, Shirosaki-san. How are you this fine morning."

She nodded, taking a bit of a small slice of watermelon. "I'm good. Are you going on your early morning walk on the shore?" Every morning, without fail, Ando Kuwabara went out for a three hour long walk on the beach. He loved the sea, and everyone said it was because he used water-type Pokemon—but Heiko was almost certain it was because Ando had used to be a sailor. He's told her it had been an occupation he'd enjoyed, but he felt that, even as young as he was, it had been a good time to retire. He was a quiet man, but he took that saying "Quit while you're ahead," to heart. It wasn't much, he definitely looked more relaxed each and every day that had passed since his arrival in Nuvema. "Yes, I am. I decided to stop by for something to eat first, if that's alright?"

Heiko smiled. Of course, it was known throughout town that if you wanted food or even a quick snack, you should head to her home and ask. Even though Heiko didn't enjoy cooking all that much, she was glad to fill the hungry stomach of anyone that had the backbone to ask, which was everyone, nowadays. "Sure, thing. Just let me finish my food, and I'll whip you up a quick breakfast."

Kuwabara gave a short bow. "I apologize for intruding so early in the morning and giving you such trouble, Shirosaki-san."

Heiko let out a huff. For all his quiet nature, Ando was certainly too polite for his own good. She waved her and as he polished off her omelet. "Don't bother. You tend to do this every other morning anyway, a bit like Oono, actually. It's fine. And I've told you to call me Heiko, "Shirosaki-san" makes me feel old!" She stood up and Kuwabara helped her take her dishes over to the sink. She sighed, not bothering to shoo him away from washing the dishes as he had already began to. She'd stopped trying ages ago. Opening the fridge, she cast him a glance. "What would you like today? Does fruit salad sound okay? I don't think I want to cook another egg today, sorry."

Ando shook his head. "No, fruit sounds fine. I always eat light before a walk anyway. I don't want to bother you."

Heiko rolled her eyes. "Uh-huh, okay. I'll cut them up and you just sit at the table when you're done with the dishes—which you didn't  _have_  to do, you know."

Ando, glanced at the floor—goodness, that man was shy—and shrugged, nonetheless. "It's alright, I wanted to. It makes less work for you later, anyway."

Heiko sighed. "I know..." She muttered. Soon, she'd finished cutting the fruit and set the knife in the sink. Ando immediately reached to pick it up, but she swatted his hand away. "Nu-huh. You've already finished, what did I tell you? You were supposed to sit down when you were done, I've got the knife myself. Here," she handed him the bowl of fruit, and he wordlessly slipping into the chair at the table and began to eat, slowly. Heiko busied herself with rubbing the soap suds over the edge of the knife, careful not to cut her fingers.

Just as she had finished stowing the knife away in one of the higher cupboards, she heard the sound of chair legs scrapping against the tiled floor almost soundlessly.  _Looks like Ando-san's finished... Eto, he always heats so fast!_  Everything Ando did was silent, even his footsteps. She didn't even know he'd walked over to the sink until he'd turned on the faucet and began to rinse his dish. Heiko sighed. "I could have done that for you. You should go get to your walk."

He shrugged. "I wanted to do it for you—after all I'm the one who ate from it, it's only fair."

Ando was one of the most reserved guys that Heiko knew, but she still couldn't grasp why. He was relatively shy for a veteran Pokemon Trainer, perhaps that was why he frequented Nuvema town. She took the bowl from him after he'd finished and went to put it away. Again, she didn't even hear his footsteps, but she did hear the screen door opening again as he went to leave. "Ah! Ando-san, have a nice walk!" She ran over to the door and waved. He didn't even turn around, already half way down the path, but he lifted a hand over his shoulder in acknowledgment to her farewell. She let out a breath and closed the door. Heiko leaned against the doorway and cast a glance out the window that was right next to it, watching as the sun climbed into the beautiful blue sky. She heard Ravi bustling around somewhere in the living room, listening to the morning birds chirp as he always did after breakfast, and sighed. Today was going to be the same. That was great, she wasn't extremely too fond of change.

And, the same as everyone else in Nuvema town, she didn't know how wrong she was.

 **(- _Pokemon_** ~

Ando Kuwabara walked away from Shirosaki-san's home feeling slightly guilt. He always asked so much from her, it was a good thing she was a kind, giving, and very sweet person. Even though she was young, his age, and had lost so much, she was still cheerful and relaxed. Nothing like him, who, at the same age as the young woman—who was twenty-seven—was slightly sullen and silent, perhaps a bit sulky. He hadn't really anything to call his own before, and he's never really had anyone to love, so he wasn't sure what he was feeling—but he thought he might be in love with Shirosaki-san. It made him flinch just to think it—Shirosaki-san wouldn't love anyone like  _him_. Despite her gentle-nature and overall kindness, he saw her being just as friendly with everyone else. He knew that she didn't like him, but kept it on the inside. No one in Nuvema—no one in the entire of the Unova region liked  _him_. He was a shady character. Given, most veteran Trainers were slightly shady-looking, dressed in their darker shades while all the young aspiring Trainers were decked out in cheerful brighter colors, but he just couldn't shake off the notion that he wasn't good enough for anyone, least of all Shirosaki.

Perhaps it was from growing up with slightly abusive parents, in a rundown city in Jhoto, but still. NO one was kind to him just because he was him, right? There weren't people like that, everyone wanted _something_ , most likely even Shirosaki-san. But even if Shirosaki-san wanted something from him in exchange for her kindness, he'd gladly give it to her. Maybe it was the fluttering, nervous feeling he got around her, or just the fact that she was so giving, but he would. If she asked him to, he would.

Ando shook his head. He didn't come out here to sulk like he always did. The mornings in Nuvema Town were meant to be spent thinking about nothing. The air was just right to relax almost completely, even if it was a little harder for him to than everyone else. He  _liked_  Nuvema town, it was so utterly peaceful here. Every other city in Unova he'd been to—which were most all of them, since he'd challenged the Pokemon League like any other Trainer, and had needed the gym badges for that—had an overshadowing tense feeling behind the cheerful or busy lifestyle. It was due to Pokemon battling and the dream of becoming the best, and the gym stationed in almost each and every town on the west side of Unova, leading up to the League. Of course, Nuvema had, just like any other inhabited place on earth, Pokemon battles, Trainers and such—but the tense feeling of aspiring dreams wasn't there. For anyone anywhere, Nuvema truly was the best vacation spot.

He also liked the quite, and the way the townspeople dealt with life and each other so smoothly, just slid by, went with the flow of things and never seemed to trip up. Like he often did, but really, he liked it. He was a quiet person by nature, maybe it was beat into him early on, but now he just kind of preferred it that way. He was shy, there wasn't a reason not to admit that, he'd even been told so multiple times by the others in Nuvema and elsewhere. He didn't really mind, it was the truth, and he appreciated that they weren't to withdrawn from him to point it out. He lived a guarded life, but somehow, Nuvema was changing that and he was opening up, even if he almost didn't want to.

He supposed it might be for the better.

Maybe Shirosaki-san and the others didn't want anything after all. Ando shook his head and continued on. He wouldn't really know unless he was to ask, and he was far too shy for that. It was best to just let things go as they had been.

The veteran Trainer felt one of the pokeballs that he kept closest start to shake and shutter. The Pokemon inside was either startled by something extremely dangerous or in serious panic. He quickly let the Espeon, Violet, out and stared at her. Violet was, admittedly, his favorite and first Pokemon. They had been together for  _years_ , and she was normally very cool and collected, very calm. He wondered what had her so suddenly bristling like a cat. In fact, once Violet had been let out, the two other Pokemon he had on him, a Voltikk and a Herdier, began to shift nervously.

Violet sent her Trainer a look that said something important had caught her attention and that he needed to see it right  _now_. Ando took in a breath. This had only happened once before—it was when he had first started out as a Trainer, a few month after he'd run away from his so-called parents. His angry father had somehow tracked him down, and had almost caught him if it hadn't been for Violet, who had alerted him in time for him to run away. That night when he'd been fourteen, hiding behind that rock and watching the displeased man curse and look around for him, had been the very last time Ando had ever seen either of his parents, thankfully. He hoped to keep it that way...

Sucking in a deep breath, Ando gathered his wits and dashed after violet, who had began to run off down the beach toward something in the distance. He really, really hoped it wasn't anything that he thought it was.

It wasn't. In Ando's opinion, it might have been a slight relief if the thing that caught Violet's attention wasn't so worrying, wasn't an unconscious child, just lying there in the sand with the waves just barely reaching and lapping at his toes.

Ando's honey-colored eyes widened in surprise and he panicked, kneeling down next to the child and pushing the much younger male onto his back. The boy couldn't have been even half his own age, and he was dressed entirely in black and some shades of gray. He wore a trench coat, but it wasn't like that of a veteran, plus the kid was way to young. Ando saw a black typical Trainer's hat lying a few feet away, half covered by sand. When he looked back at the kid he now held in his arms, he saw there was a nasty gash on the back of his head. It looked very deep and was bleeding profusely. Ando knew it was serious, and his breath caught in his throat. He had to hurry back to the town. He'd been away for four hours, now, which was much longer than usual, and it was a bit of a hike back, but he knew he could make it if he hurried fast enough. Plus, Shirosaki-san might know what to do in the meantime that the ambulance from the Nuvema Town hospital came.

Gathering the young boy, who couldn't even be more than ten or eleven, in his arms, Ando began to run back down the shore in the direction he'd come, clutching the boy to his chest so he didn't jostle any other wound she might have. Violet followed behind him, the boy's hat in her mouth.

 **(- _Pokemon_** ~

Josept smiled at his beautiful wife, Clara. She was the most amazing woman in the world, without a doubt, and he was incredibly lucky to be able to call her his. The sunny-haired woman just smiled back at him and turned back to scold his dear Bianca for going to far into the tall grass.

"But mom, I can't become a Pokemon Trainer if I don't have any Pokemon!" The small blond girl complained, and Josept allowed a small twitch present at the corner of his brow for a just a millisecond. That was the one, small, problem in his otherwise perfect life in Nuvema Town—his dear, sweet, innocent, perfect little impressionable Bianca angel wanted to become a Pokemon Trainer. He swore it was all the Ueda kid's fault. Cheren was such a bad influence on his little angel, he knew he should have never let Bianca near that stoic, too-serious child! His Bianca, a Pokemon Trainer—it was way to dangerous, she could get hurt!

Clara flashed him a sharp, green-eyes look like she knew  _exactly_  what he was thinking—Josept flinched, as she most likely  _did_ , somehow—and the man sighed. He backtracked his thoughts and shook his head as Bianca continued to attempt at convincing her mother to let her into the tall grass where the Pokemon hid. He knew it wasn't Cheren Ueda's fault—the kid was way too mature, though—but he had wanted  _someone_  to blame. He couldn't bear the thought of his dear Bianca journeying through the Unova region, most likely alone, training with the Pokemon and battling other Trainers. The very idea made him swallow, hard. Still, Bianca had to grow up sometime. That didn't mean he had to like it.

Clara smiled in approval, and Josept had to wonder if woman really did have mysterious mind reading abilities—and ushered Bianca out of the room. The girl was still whining, but it was incessant and slightly annoying like that Oono kid's. Josept shook his head and turned around. Ah well, kids will be kids...

He stood up and made his way back to Heiko-san's home. As he walked up the path to the door, he looked around and frowned slightly, something wasn't right. It was half-past noon now, and Ando Kuwabara still wasn't back from his morning walk. He usually only stayed out for around two or three ours each morning, and came back to hang around Heiko-san and the others. Cheren and Bianca absolutely loved him, and the rest of the townspeople adored him and his shy and quiet nature. He always seemed so guarded and slightly regressive, though, and everyone wondered why. They left him alone, though, even if it was beginning concerning them sometimes. He deserved his privacy just like everyone else.

"Ano, Heiko," he called as he stepped over her threshold. Everyone in Nuvema knew about Heiko Shirosaki's open-door policy. As long as they didn't do anything worth frowning at, anyone was welcome to let themselves in. "Has Ando-san come back yet?"

"No," he could hear the frown in her voice as she walked over to meet him in the entrance hall. "It's strange, he's usually back by now. Do you think something happened? I'm getting a bit worried."

"It might be nothing," he offered, but they were both still frowning. It wasn't like Ando Kuwabara to be late. If anything, he was almost always on time. Like clockwork, he was completely punctual. It almost scared some people, in a humorous way, though.

Heiko sighed. "I don't know..." She looked up. "Eto.. Oono-san! Come out here so we can talk to you!"

The call was prompt and cheerful. "As always, my beautiful Heiko- _chan_!" The teen charmingly called. Heiko rolled her eyes, but they still held concern. Ravi skipped into the entryway. "You rang?"

"Did you see Ando-san come back, yet? I don't think he's returned... Did you see him anywhere?"

Ravi's green eyes lit up in surprise. Ando was almost notorious for being timely. "Aah, no. I haven't. Should we go and look for him?" Suddenly, he was all smiles again. "You know, I bet he just fell asleep under a nice palm tree or something. Nothing to worry about, Heiko- _chan_!"

Josept sent the kid a look, coupled with a frown. "There aren't any palm trees on this side of the coast, Ravi-kun." Ravi's smile fell slightly, and Josept turned back to Heiko. "I'll go and ask Clara or Bianca if they saw him come home yet. Cheren and Bianca were out playing earlier, they might have seen him."

The woman nodded, glancing around distractedly. Ravi nodded and dashed out of the house, yelling over his shoulder. "I'll ask the others, too!" Heiko waved, and peered anxiously out the window. She hoped nothing was wrong. Josept sent her a nod and left the house, and Heiko sat down in a chair in the kitchen, feeling useless. Ando might be in trouble and she wasn't doing anything to help him at all! The young woman wrung her hands together, then began to play with the hem of her blouse.

She wasn't going to deny it, especially in her own mind in the least. Ando had become very important to her in the past years she'd known him. He was a constant now, a bit like Ravi, but she felt something deeper with him. She was a bit afraid to name it, especially after Eiji. She was also afraid to wait to long into it—the feeling might mute or disappear suddenly someday for some reason, or Ando would go away from Nuvema and not come back, he was known for traveling extensively after all, and he wasn't really in Nuvema to stay. She enjoyed his company, and kind of wanted to help him in his trust issues, which were there, she knew. It was a bit obvious to everyone in the town that Ando-san wasn't very up for trusting people. They all liked to think he was their friends and they his, but he was so shy and reserved, it was worrying sometimes. They all cared about him, everyone adored him, really. If it was possible for a twenty-seven-year-old man to appear adorable, Ando Kuwabara had managed to pull it off, and it did nothing to hinder his image. He was amazing at Pokemon battles as well.

Heiko shook her head, letting her hands fall into her lap. What was she thinking? Ando probably didn't even think of her like that. It was best not to dwell on it.

A loud, if slightly hesitant, knock on the back door made Heiko jump nearly out of her skin. "Hei—Shirosaki-san!?" Was that Ando? She felt relief flood into her, but stilled. That was strange, he doesn't normally sound so expressive. Actually, he sounded kind of panicked. And... had he almost called her  _Heiko_? "Shirosaki-san! Please open the door, I really need help! I don't know what to do!"

Heiko's eyes widened and she literally flew to the back door, wrenching it open. "Ando-san—!"

Ando had probably been leaning on the door frame, and when Heiko had opened the door, he fell through the entrance. "A-Ah!"

"Ando!? Are you—" Heiko froze when she saw what—or whom—the man had in his arms. "Oh my god! Who is that? Is that  _blood_?!"

Ando stood up quickly. "Please, Shirosaki-san, we have to hurry! He has a deep injury on the back of his head and it's bleeding very badly. Can you please call the hospital and have them send an ambulance here?" Heiko nodded dumbly, still staring down at the child cradled in the man's arms. "Shirosaki-san! I apologize to intruding into your home and shouting at you, but please, could you hurry?" Ando pleaded, his golden eyes wide. That snapped Heiko out of her daze and she turned to face Ando. His eyes were normally shaded by his bangs, and they really were gorgeous, but she tore her own eyes away and ran out into the hallway, grabbing the phone. After she ordered an ambulance to come to her home, she rushed back to the kitchen, slightly breathless. "Ando, I'm going to go get Josept and some others to help, alright?" Ando only nodded, tightening a his grip on the child as he pressed a washcloth firmly over the boy's head wound. Heiko only briefly wondered where he'd learned to care for such injuries before flying out the back door and dashing over to the Suzuki's yard.

Ando sat on the floor of the kitchen, hovering over the boy's motionless figure. He hoped they weren't too late, the kid was loosing enough blood as it was.

 **(- _Pokemon_** ~

By the time the ambulance arrived, a crowed had gather in and out of Heiko Shirosaki's house to see the mysterious boy that Ando had found unconscious and injured on the beach. Ando had told them what had happened as he tended, best he was able, to the wound. The others put their heads together and concluded that the child hadn't been washed ashore by the waves, as he wasn't wet at all, and the clothes he was wearing had no residue salt from dried seawater. Only the toes of the by's boots were in any way damp, and that was because of the waves that had been lapping at them when the ocean was at high tide.

Honestly, they hadn't a clue, a vaguest idea of where the boy had com from. Ando and Heiko had climbed into the car with the paramedics and Josept, Clara, Ravi, and Cheren and Bianca and the rest of the townspeople watched the ambulance zoom away.

None of them knew at the moment, but nothing in Nuvema would be quite the same for a long, long while after that.

 **(- _Pokemon_** ~

Heiko sat next to Ando in the hospital lobby nervously, thinking things over. She was painfully curious about the boy, but extremely concerned as well. She wanted to know, desperately, what had happened to him and how he'd been hurt. Had someone done it to him? How could someone hurt a  _child_? She shook her head, it couldn't have been that. The boy must have just had an accident with the rocks or something. It never occurred to her, after that, that Ando had told them there were no such rocks within the boy's vicinity.

It also never occurred to her, until much, much later when she was told exactly what type of life Ando Kuwabara had had as a child, that Ando was currently, right now, stuck on the though of the first idea. That wound on the back of the child's head, when he'd found him, even, did not come from a rock. No, Ando had seen that wound  _so many times_ before _._ It couldn't be from anything but a  _knife_ , it was so clean, so precise.

He felt a shiver run down his spine, and he didn't even notice Heiko grab his hand for her own comfort, he was too lost in his thoughts. He really hoped what happened to him once, many times, hadn't happened to the boy he'd found. He really, really didn't.

He didn't want that to happen to anyone else. It was bad enough it had happened to him.

A doctor came out then. They'd been sitting there for about two hours in silence. "Shirosaki-san, Kuwabara-san. This way, please." Dr. Haruto Akiyama smiled. He was a nice young man, with onyx hair that fit the round shape of his head, and sparkling bright green eyes. He usually had a gold piercing, a small hoop, at the top of his left ear, but he didn't wear that when he was working sifts at the hospital. He was twenty-three and fresh out of med school, but the whole town loved him and his work.

Ando and Heiko stood up and followed the young doctor to a room in the ICU. Before they entered, Haruto turned to them with a serious expression on his face. "Before we go in, there are some things you should know. They're important, and they aren't good news either. Please prepare yourselves."

Heiko and Ando exchanged alarmed looks before turning back to him and nodding.

"Alright. One, he doesn't talk. I think he might be mute." Heiko's eyes widened and Ando bit his lip. "Though I don't believe it's because anything medical-wise. It seems to be selective, most likely due to trauma." He eyed them. "Can I go on?" They nodded, and he took in a breath. "Also, by communicating through other means aside from speech, I've learned that he had amnesia."

Heiko felt her breath get stolen away and her shoulders slumped in stunned disbelief. "Amnesia?" She croaked. Ando observed them both with wide golden eyes.

"Amnesia," Haruto nodded seriously. "A complete wipe, too. He's a total blank slate, he doesn't even know his own name. Not where he came from, his age, what happened, nothing. I think it's due to the head wound, mostly, and I don't see any way of retrieving those memories. Overall, the wound didn't affect much else, so that's that."

Green eyes peered up at them, since Haruto was a good inch shorter. "That's really all you need to know immediately, right off the bat. There are some other things that I think you might find noteworthy and important, but I'll tell you in the room."

"Okay, just.. just give me a minute to digest this, alright?" Heiko took in a few breathes, and the two men watched silently. Ando's mind was in turmoil, he wasn't sure what to think. All he was really sure of what that, now, they would never, none of them, find out what had truly happened on that beach and how the boy had ended up like that.

Heiko was grasping at straws here. She couldn't come up with anything to make sense of this. Things had been so peaceful, so... it was Nuvema town, nothing was ever suppose to happen here. Ad then, this boy just falls into her life... Though, she did feel extremely sorry for the kid. To wake up one day in a place you don't recognize, and don't remember anything about  _anything_ , that was  _terrible_. And knowing that, if only you could remember, you might even know where you had woken up... She didn't think she'd be able to take that. "Okay. I think I'm good, Let's go."

They entered the room, and Heiko was absolutely, utterly impressed.

The boy sat straight up n the bed, hands folded in front of him. He had very pale skin and long, onyx hair darker than even Haruto's. It reached his shoulder-blades and was pulled back in a low ponytail a the nape of his neck. Stunning violet eyes peered over at them, and she was stunned to see they didn't really hold any emotions at all. The boy was calm, so completely calm—that was why she was impressed. She'd have never been able to be like that if such things had happened to her. Aside fro the absolute lack of emotions—or rather, alongside—the boy was blank. Totally, completely, utterly, blank, void of.. well, anything, really, perhaps there was a slight flash of curiosity in those lavender eyes when he looked over at them, but otherwise, he didn't show even an ounce of emotion, even as they entered. Just as blank as his mind, she reminded herself. Was this what all people with total amnesia were like at first? Somehow, she wasn't so sure. But what would she know about it?

"Hello again," Haruto smiled, but even Heiko caught the quick look of worry that had crossed his face. Now she was more certain—the boy wasn't suppose to be like this, even with the amnesia. "I've brought you some visitors—these are the two people that rose with you in the ambulance here. This man is Ando Kuwabara, he's the one who found you. And this," the doctor gestures to Heiko, who suddenly felt shy as those empty purple eyes swept over to her. "—is his friend Heiko Shirosaki."

The boy blinked, and nodded shyly back at them. Haruto seemed a bit more pleased at the response and show of feelings, however brief or sudden, and nodded. He motioned for the two young adults to sit down, ,and they both quickly found a chair. The doctor pulled out a clipboard and marked a few things off. "Alright, I have a few matters of importance I need to tell you." The boy only blinked, but Ando and Heiko both sent him nods to continue. "After a thorough examination, before you woke up and after he checked and administered treatment to your head injury, I discovered several concerning things with your breathing pattern, so I looked into it. I found out something rather disturbing an immensely worrying." He peered over the clipboard and the two adults were suddenly nervous all over again.

"What is it?" Heiko asked weakly, once it was clear that neither Ando or the boy were going to speak.

"Emphysema." Haruto told them seriously, and the three blinked at the unfamiliar term. Haruto went on. "One of the diseases that are, collectively, known as COPD, or "chronic obstructive pulmonary disease." Emphysema occurs when the air sacs in your lungs are gradually destroyed, making you progressively more short of breath." Heiko's hands had flown to her mouth sometime in the middle of the explanation, and Ando had began to bit his lip again. The boy didn't react, really. He only continued to stare at the doctor. However, as Haruto went on, the boy's chiseled eyebrows raised ever so slightly. "As it worsens, emphysema turns the spherical air sacs—" At they're looks, Haruto motioned with his hands, the clipboard tucked under his elbow. "They're clustered like a bunch of grapes, see? Anyway, As it worsens, those—the spherical air sacs—are turned into large, irregular pockets with gaping holes in their inner walls. This reduces the surface area of the lungs and, in turn, the amount of oxygen that reaches your bloodstream." Heiko squeezed her eyes shut, and the boy shifted on the bed, finally showing some sings of discomfort, but Haruto went on to explain what they would do about the problem. Ando leaned forward to listen better. "Emphysema also slowly destroys the elastic fibers that hold open the small airways leading to the air sacs. They allow these airways to collapse when you breathe out, so the air in your lungs can't escape. Without this function working properly, you—" he looked at the boy, who was listening in rapture, "—may find it very difficult to breath sometimes, at random moments of any day. There are few symptoms, since this is kind of only a lung problem—that included coughing up blood, which is never a pleasant experience, mind you. That why, for thee treatment, I'm going to give a prescription for these pills—I'm not going to tell you the name right now, you'll most likely only forget it, so we'll label them as R0-VC on the records—and you have to take one every time your chest starts getting too tight for you to breath properly, alright?" They all turned to look at the boy, who only stared at Haruto in silence.

Eventually, after some minutes—they all hoped it was because he was mulling over what he'd just been told—the boy began to nod, excruciatingly slowly. Haruto smiled tightly, a bit sad that such a small, adorable boy had such a tough hand in life. Really, the boy was tiny for his age, which he'd decided, due to the tests, was around either twelve or thirteen—the boy looked to be no older than ten, or a rather small eleven year old. "Okay. I'm sorry to say that the treatment for emphysema only slows the progression of the disease to a crawl where it's almost like it's completely stopped, but it can't reverse the damage. So, and please listen when I say this—you can  _never_  stop taking these pills, are we clear?" The boy nodded once, and Haruto let out a sharp, quick sigh. "Alright. I'll go write up the prescription. We'll have to keep you over night for that head injury and until we can get the pills in a issued bottle. Also, I'd like to do a few more check-ups on you just in case. All we need now if a place for you to go—as much as I hate to say it, you can't stay here forever..."

They were all silent, thinking as the boy tilted his head further and examined Ando and Heiko, completely disregarding Haruto now that the doctor was done talking. Haruto let out a soft huff, before slowly turning to the two others himself. "I apologize for asking this of you, but.. would one of you—"

"I'll take him." Heiko suddenly blurted, then blushed as all three male's attention darted to her. "I-I mean.. You know what? He doesn't have anywhere to go, and he doesn't even remember having anywhere to go." She slowly turned her head to look at each one of them in the eyes, even the boy—and this time, she didn't even flinch when those empty violet eyes met hers. When the boy saw this, Heiko thought she caught a flash of interest in those lavender orbs, like the boy was impressed or something. Wit her. Maybe... Maybe she'd done  _something_  right...

"...I'll adopt him."

**_(~Pokemon~_ **


	2. Exodus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuro, Cheren and Bianca grow a little older, and and all the adults feel as if they themselves are aging twice as fast. Soon, these kids will leave on their journey, and then what are they suppose to do?

_**Chapter Two: Exodus** _

* * *

"How is Shirosaki-kun now, Heiko-san?" Bianca and Cheren asked immediately after she entered the room. That was always the first thing they said to her when they saw her these days, but she really didn't mind all too much. Whenever she heard the title "Shirosaki-kun," her heart would always take a dive and butterflies would flutter through her chest. That meant her son, he was her  _son_. She finally had a child to take care of, to call her own. And the fact that he now shared Eiji's name with her only made it all the better, and Heiko somehow felt that Eiji, somewhere, approved wholeheartedly of this.

She'd named him Kuro—if not only because he wore nothing but black, but also because kids these days were being named after colors all over, and she didn't want her new son to feel left out when he was older and started traveling. Heiko stopped.  _Look at that_ , she thought.  _It's only been a week and I'm already troubling myself over when he'll grow up. Calm yourself, Heiko... Gosh, is this what being a mother is like? I'm going to get wrinkles a lot faster now..._ She sighed. "Yes, Cheren. Yes, Bianca—Kuro is doing well. Soon, he'll be able to come outside and play with you!"

The children brightened, apparently satisfied as they soon went back to their game. Cheren and Bianca were around the same age as Kuro was determined to be—which was twelve. Cheren being a newly turned thirteen-year-old, and Bianca being almost twelve as well. She was still eleven right now, but almost there. They thought Kuro would be a good way to even the ages out, since Cheren had always been slightly iffy about playing with a girl  _so_  much younger than him. He'd decided that Kuro was the answer, and once Kuro was their best friend as well, the ages wouldn't matter anymore—for some strange reason the adults just couldn't figure out.

Other than that, Cheren and Bianca just simply adored Kuro. Even with his silence and almost complete lack of physical show of emotion, he did seem to fit right in with the two. Now, every day Heiko saw him, Cheren looked more and more like a mature older brother—for Kuro, he'd told them when he was asked(though they thought he didn't need to be any more mature than he was right now, Josept wallowed in despair). Bianca retained her own carefree and untroubled nature, but her eyes gained a slight edge when they were talking about Kuro. Heiko decided either a slightly overbearing little sister in the future, or a small, blossoming crush. Knowing Bianca, it might even be a mixture of both—though she saw more of the sister every day than the signs of a crush.

Speaking of Bianca, her parents really loved Kuro to pieces. Clara almost tried to act like a  _second_ mother to him—emphasis on the "second," there—and Heiko almost,  _almost_ , felt slightly jealous. Josept coddled the boy, intent on making him as adorable as his daughter since he'd failed with Cheren, but also because—well, Kuro was pretty cute enough already, even with his lack of feeling.

Heiko turned away from the children and spoke with their parents for a while—about the latest news and town happenings, which inevitably led to Kuro in one way or another.

"So, how is Kuro holding up?" Inoue, who was the mother of Cheren, asked.

"He still not talking?" Micheal, her husband, added in.

Heiko rolled her eyes. "I've said it before, Mike. He's mute, he's not gonna be talking. Maybe a long time into the future we can perhaps look into it, but that's only if Kuro's willing to let us help, which I somehow doubt he will. Despite all the silence and ease at letting use near him to take care of him—he's pretty darn stubborn."

"He'd be talking now, if he wasn't." Josept muttered. Heiko sighed and it him upside the head. "Mute, Josept. It's not his fault."

"I know, I know."He threw up his hands, and Clara dragged him to the kitchen to help her make the children lunch. Heiko stood and said her goodbyes. She'd left Ravi and looking after Kuro since Ando had left for a trip to Opelucid, and she didn't want to leave that teen alone for long, no matter how much she unbelievably trusted him.

The young woman pushed back her dark, honey-colored bangs from her face as she stepped through her front door. She cast her gaze around the entryway before making her way toward the stairs. As she climbed them, Heiko could hear Ravi chatting up a storm, carefree and most likely oblivious to whether anyone was listening to him or not. That said, she held back a smile as she opened the door and stepped into the room she had set up for Kuro.

Admittedly, it wasn't much, but Kuro didn't seem to mind at all. The walls were painted a warm, light gray color, and the ceiling was white while the floor had black tiles. There was a white carpet that covered the half of the floor opposite fro the wall that the bed was against. The bed itself had white sheets and pillows and a solid black, nondescript comforter. Next to the bed was a dark gray side table with a lamp that you could find most likely at any house around Unova. It was white with a chain that you would pull for the light to turn on and off. Next to the lamp sat a regular black alarms clock with red numbers, and a glass of water.

Ravi was sitting in a chair next to the bed, his legs curled up under him. The teen was pretty short for his age, and his tanned skin really stood out in the scheme of the room. He was grinning, as always, and was staring over at the very large flat-screen TV Heiko had dragged into the room after discovering it in the attic—even though she'd found it in such a place, it looked very hi-tech and newly bought. She wondered how it had gotten up there. She'd set up the television on the opposite wall from the bed, and the white carpet was spread out right in front of it.

On the wall opposite from the door, a long window that reached from almost one corner to another sat above a desk that was only half as long as the window, but placed in the center just under it. It had another desk lamp, and a few books on science that Heiko had thought were interesting and had lent to Kuro to read, regretting that she had nothing else. Surprisingly, though, Kuro had accepted the books and had read through them in one night, not even stopping. They sat on the desk now, closed. Somehow, Heiko suspected that they wouldn't be opened again for a long time.

"And how are things in here?" She finally asked after growing tired of listening to Ravi ramble about the show being broadcasted. She felt a bit sorry for leaving Kuro here alone with him, but Kuro didn't even seem to have been listening. Or he had been, avidly. It was a bit hard to tell with the boy—but Heiko decided he hadn't. Ravi wasn't talking about anything interesting anyway.

The teen jerked around and grinned widely. "Ah! Heiko- _chan_ ~ Didn't see you there! How's your day been, gorgeous?" Kuro raised an eyebrow, but the movement was so minute that Heiko almost hadn't caught it. She smiled anyways, and rolled her eyes at the raven."Ravi, how many times have I told you to stop teasing me like that, huh? I'm older than you—and no, I won't marry you." She added as Ravi went to open his mouth.

He slunk down in his seat. "Aah, but it was worth a shot, ne? Shirosaki-chan really is the best!"

Heiko sighed in exasperation. "Out. Go on, you. Kuro needs to take his medication. Mind getting me the pills? They're on the counter, Oono-san."

The teen jumped to his feet , saluting. "Yes ma'am!" Kuro watched silently as he sped out of the room and down the stairs. Heiko let out another sigh, before looking at her newly adopted son. She walked over and sat at the edge of them bed, feeling only slightly awkward about getting close to him after a week. "How are you feeling today?" Kuro blinked his glittering violet eyes up at her curiously. She placed a hand on her chest in example. "Here?" She lifted her hand off of her torso and placed it on Kuro's own chest. "Is it feeling tight, hun?" She'd started calling him such names a few days ago. It made her happy, and Kuro really didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, it was like he didn't even notice "Right here, can you breath okay?"

Kuro looked down at her hand for a few seconds, watching it rise up and down with his chest, in sync with his breathing. Heiko felt that the breaths were irregular, and raised an eyebrow.

Kuro looked up and shook his head, eyes dimmed as always. Heiko let out a sigh and nodded. "Alright. Just as well, though. I was going to give you your pills anyway."

Kuro nodded just as Ravi came bouncing back into the room. "Here we are!" He sang, smiling. He handed out the pill bottle to Heiko, who nodded her thanks. "Ano... There are some cookies in the pantry, Oono-san. You know where, of course. I made them a few hours ago, help yourself."

Ravi's eyes gleamed. "Ah! Heiko- _chan_ really is the best!"

Kuro and Heiko watched the teen exit the room just as quick as he'd entered, and both shook their heads, Kuro however slowly. Heiko turned back toward her son, and beamed at the thought.  _Her_ son, Kuro was  _her_ child, now. She couldn't help but think that Eiji would be proud.

"Alright, let's get this over with." She started, handing Kuro the glass of water. She selected two of the red and blue capsules—one half was red and the other blue—and made sure he swallowed them both before screwing the cap back onto the bottle. "I'll leave this up here." She decided, placing the bottle on the bedside table. "I know how forgetful you are of those pills, which won't be good if you decide to travel and become a Pokemon Trainer. Maybe if you have them near you you'll remember."

Kuro only stared at her, before nodding slowly. Heiko nodded back at him and looked over at the television. "101 Ways to Heat a Potato" was on the cooking channel. Heiko picked up the remote and switched it off, turning back to her son. "I'm assuming you don't care about baked vegetables?"

Kuro shook his head, a smile at his lips now. Heiko called that an accomplishment."Alright, then. I'll leave you to it. Maybe I'll find some more books for you to read, yeah?" He nodded. "Okay. Well, it's getting late, so I'm headed of to take a shower and then bed. Tomorrow we can start you on walking again, and Ando-san will be back in a few days." She hesitated slightly, before swooping down and planting a kiss on the boy's forehead. "Goodnight, son."

As she walked out of the room, Kuro stared after her with a strange, almost confused glint in his eyes.

 **(-** _ **Pokemon**_ ~

"And this is our Deerling—his name is Horst," Bianca cited proudly as she dragged Kuro by the hand, showing him her father's Pokemon. Cheren followed them close behind, hands shoved in his pockets and observing the black-clad younger boy extremely closing, as an overprotective older sibling would.

It was two weeks now after Kuro had been discovered on the shore. Heiko was well on her way to becoming a superb mother, and Ando was more or less a slightly awkward-in-acting father, give or take. Ravi seemed to be content in being the slightly annoying but well-meaning older brother that didn't really act at all like he was the elder—or a carefree uncle, however you saw it—and Josept and Clara did their best as unofficial godparents.

All in all, Kuro... well, he didn't exactly seem happy, but he never seemed at all unhappy, either, so they all just assumed that he was content and hoped they were correct. It was a bit difficult to tell, though, what with the boy's lack of emotions.

The young blond turned back to her friend. "Oh! And guess what! He has a Ponyota, too! Do you want to see it?" She asked excitedly. Heiko had given Kuro all the books she could find, be they science, history, or even geography—she really only had all her old schoolbooks dating back to the eighth grade and didn't think Kuro would understand most of them. Surprisingly, though it appeared that Kuro had some sort of eidetic memory—it was as if fate was trying to make up for stealing his old ones. Heiko didn't think it was a fair trade, as eidetic memory could be as much of a curse as a gift, she'd heard. In all facts, Kuro had read any book he could get his hands on—was still doing just that every night—and was well-versed in just about any of your common-day topics and some less known facts as well. Pokemon was one of those subjects. The boy gave Bianca a nod and she cheered, dragging him through the front door of her home, Cheren almost running after them.

Kuro said nothing; he only let the girl who had immediately latched onto him and called him best friends the very first moment she laid eyes on him man-handle him over the threshold. Once in the house, however, he let his eyes roam around and take in the scenes. Eventually, as he and Cheren waited back for Bianca to ask her father's permission, the mute amnesiac slouched down a little and hid the lower half of his face in his lavender scarf.

Cheren immediately caught onto his newly proclaimed little brother's behavior and hugged him—which would have been a miracle if it had been anyone other than Kuro, as Cheren wasn't one to touch or make such gestures to anyone but his own mother at rare times; in fact, Cheren had hugged Kuro more times in the past two weeks than he'd ever hugged anyone in his life. It went to say how seriously the older boy took his new, self-proclaimed position as big brother.

"Ne, Otouto," Cheren began hesitantly, and those violet eyes were on him instantly. He swallowed. "You like it here, right? In Nuvema, I mean—Nuvema Town..." He tilted his head, narrowing his navy eyes and set a calculated gaze on the raven haired boy, rectangular glasses flashing in the light. He'd been trying for ages to get Kuro to at least make a sound.

Kuro tilted his head back a little and glanced up at the sky, before looked over and nodding an affirmative. Cheren sighed and released him, grabbing the younger boy and leading him into the house.

"—never be able to! So please, please,  _please_ , can we?"Bianca was saying, hands clasped before her chest her father and mother stood before her. Clara appeared to be thoughtful, but Josept was all-but scowling.

"Bianca, how many times have I said it?  _No_!" Josept expressed, sounding exasperated. He cast a look at his wife, only to meet a leveled stare. He gulped, then looked up to see Cheren and Kuro standing in the entrance. "Ah! Hiya, Kuro!" Josept crowed, lifting a hand and letting it fall onto the raven haired boy's head. Kuro looked up at the man and smiled softly, before tilting his head and pointing at the pokeballs that were resting on the table. Behind Josept's back, Clara and Bianca hid two identical smirks. Cheren held back a chuckle as Josept's eyes flew between Kuro's almost-pout, and the pokeballs—he started to sweat, slightly.

"Eum... What did you want, hm?" The man looked back over at the pokeballs and raised an eyebrow nervously. "What about them?"

Kuro blinked, then tilted his head in the other direction.

"... Well..." Josept looked back at his daughter, and Bianca instantly had her puppy-dog eyes out and glistening. His refusal fell through. "Fine! Alright! But nothing too dangerous! Use Musharna, or—or... Horst!" He exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air. The children cheered—or, Bianca cheered, Cheren smirked triumphantly, and Kuro only blinked, then smiled. Clara laughed behind her hand. "They've got you wrapped around their little fingers, hun."

Josept sighed as he watched his daughter grab the pokeball containing the family Deerling and the three children dashed out of the house."I know, I know..."

"This way, Kuro!" Bianca called as Cheren dragged the boy by his hand. The older boy looked back and smiled. "Yeah! All the more powerful Pokemon are in the tall grass, and the tall grass always grows on this side of the field! C'mon!"

Kuro gazed after them as he allowed Cheren to tug him along. He blinked slowly, and looked around. This was the first time he'd been to this part of Nuvema. It was right at the beginning of Route 1 and he could see the tall grasses sway in the invisible wind. When he looked to the left, he could see the stairs that led down to the shore of the small lagoon sort of space. This was where the ocean kind of came inland a little and formed a small lake. And, just like whenever Kuro saw the sea, he felt some sort of stabbing pain begin in his chest and flit across his heart and mind, swerving around in his head until his face was slightly pale and his breathing was irregular. He didn't like it. And he didn't know why it was there—he was fine around any other source of water, but the ocean...

As he let Cheren pull him along, Kuro took in a breath, surveying the water. The last time he'd been this close to the ocean was when Ando-sama had found him, and he didn't even remember that.

Cheren stopped, as if sensing something. He turned and saw the state Kuro was in, and silently began to berate himself. Everyone in Nuvema knew his adorable little brother was afraid of the ocean, and what did he and Bianca do? They took him closer to the ocean.  _Darn it, Cheren! Do something!_

"Ehm, Bianca!" The blond girl turned around and raised an eyebrow at him. "maybe we should just stick to the tall grass closer to the Town?"

Bianca frowned. "What? But why? All the cooler Pokemon are over in the darker grass, over here—everyone knows that!"

Cheren rolled his eyes and nodded his head toward Kuro, who was pressed up against his side, as far from the water as he could be, and was glancing at the ocean with wary purple eyes. Bianca's pink lips formed an "o".

The cheery blond girl bounded forward and caught Kuro in a tight hug, and Cheren instantly formed a small scowl. "It's okay, Kuro-kun! Me and Cheren will protect you from the ocean! It can't hurt you when we're over here anyway!"

Cheren let out a huff. "It's "Cheren and  _I_ ," Bianca—and I really don't think we should go that far,  _hey_!" As he'd spoken, Bianca had dragged Kuro over to the tall grass and the two children had disappeared into together. Cheren groaned and followed after as quickly as he could and began to look for them. "Ano... Bianca! Kuro! Otouto! Imouto! Where did you go?" Because as much as he'd tried to venomously deny it, Bianca had become the closet thing to a little sister he had.

The raven-haired pre-teen shook his head and turned around in a circle.  _Where could they be?_

As Cheren was searching for the two, Bianca and Kuro were crouched behind a patch of dark grass together, silently observing a wandering Victini that was in the process of searching a mound of berries.

Kuro had his usual emotionless mask on, but Bianca was thunderstruck."Daddy says Victini are pretty powerful—and Ando-san says they are too. Cheren says Victini are Psychic and Fire type Pokemon, and Ando-san says they're Victory Pokemon and can only be found in Liberty garden... I wonder what this one's doing all the way out here..." She looked over at Kuro with wide eyes.

Kuro only tilted his head, and reached into her coat pocket. "Hey, what are y—" He threw something at the Victini, and there was an undignified squawk and a flash of white light. Bianca blinked and narrowed her eyes, before they flew open and her face morphed into a gob smacked expression once the light diminished. "Oi! How did you do that? You caught it without even weakening it first—you didn't even battle it!" By now the girl was forehead-to-forehead with the semi-emotionless boy and her eyes were shining with stars, in a way that almost disturbed him.

"Eto—Kuro! Bianca!" Cheren's voice sounded in their ears, now."Where are you?!" He sounded slightly scared. Bianca froze. "Oh no! We left Cheren all alone!" Kuro decided not to point out that she'd been the one to drag him, and let her grab his wrist once again. "C'mon!"

Cheren was almost afraid now. Neither Bianco nor Kuro had answered any of his calls, and he was beginning to wonder if something had happened to them. He could understand why Kuro wouldn't since the boy was mute, but Bianca should at least be able to call back, right? After all, they couldn't have gone that far, right? Cheren twirled around again and shouted their names. Had they been hurt?

Eventually he was about to give up and go find some adults to help, but there was a rustling sounds and out came Bianca form the tall grass, who was dragging Kuro along behind her. Kuro just looked incredibly bored, but Bianca beamed at him excitedly. "Cheren! Sorry we left you all along—but you won't  _believe_  what Kuro did!"

Cheren frowned at her, almost angry. "Bianca! How could you just run off like that!? I was getting worried about you two! Please, can we all stick together next time? One of us could have gotten lost!"He scolded her. Bianca had the decency to look at least a little sheepish at his words, but then she perked up again. "Right, okay. We'll all stay together no matter what. But  _Cheren_! Listen!"and the girl told him what had transpired while he was separated form them. While she spoke, Kuro let out a breath and closed his eyes shut tightly. He sat down on a small boulder. When he opened his eyes again, Cheren was staring at him in awe. "Really?" He asked. "You caught a Victini!?" At Kuro hesitant nod, Cheren narrowed his eyes at Bianca. "Are you  _sure_  it was a Victini? Maybe it just looked like it?" But even he doubted his own words. Not many Pokemon looked too alike in the sense that you could mistake one for another—but it  _did_  happen...

Bianca shook her head. " _Nope_! I know it was Victini! Cuz I listen to you sometimes when you rant and stuff—" Here, she ignored Cheren's glare. "—and I remembered that! It's Victini! Here, look!"

She brought out a Pokemon and pressed the button before Cheren could stop her, and the white light flashed soon with a disgruntled Victini in it's place.

Cheren sucked in a breath. "Yeah.. Wow, that's definitely a legendary Pokemon, Victini! How on earth is it all the way over  _here_? I mean, this is Nuvema Town!"

Bianca shrugged. "I don't know. What I do know, though, is that Kuro-kun owns Victini now! Wow, Kuro-kun, you're going to be a real powerful trainer one day, if you keep this up!" She told the obsidian haired twelve year old.

Kuro only smiled, his eyes straying to the ocean. Cheren caught sight some something flashing in those violet orbs, but he couldn't name it. "C'mon," the pre-teen eventually sighed. "It's getting late, and we have to get Deerling back to Mr. Josept."

 _ **(-Pokemon**_ ~

"Come on, Ro-chan, Can you at least eat a little?" Heiko let out a sigh."Look I cut up some watermelon—I know that's your favorite... please? It'll make me feel better."

It had almost been an entire year since shed adopted Kuro. And things had finally settled down a few months before. Of course, Kuro still had small-scale attacks every once in a while, like just before now, but he was surrounded by people who cared about him, and who would help him.

The violet-eyes boy reluctantly accepted the bowl filled with small cubes of watermelon, even though Heiko knew he really didn't feel like eating—of course, his mouth had just been full of blood, she wouldn't have wanted to eat either. But she knew that Kuro needed something in his stomach. He hadn't eaten anything the day before, when the attack had occurred.

"You really need to remember to take your pills when your chest starts to hurt, un?" She scolded, and Kuro dipped is head bashfully. He still wouldn't speak, no matter what anyone would do, so they all eventually just let him be in that regard. "I worry a lot when this happens, you know?"

Kuro nodded and, just to settle her fears it seemed, he popped on square of watermelon into his mouth and chewed it with a small smile. Heiko laughed and tousled his hair. "Alright, then. I've got some errands to run, so I'll be back soon, okay?" Kuro nodded. "Ravi is watching TV in the living room if you need anything, and Ando-san is next door helping Josept fix the roof."

Kuro nodded again, and watched as she left his room, silently. That's what happened—everyone was more quiet when they were around Kuro—it was almost instinctual. When you were around Kuro Shirosaki, you just felt the need to do things quieter, whisper if you had to, lower your voice, muffle your footsteps, anything—because the fact that he was mute was so glaringly obvious that you couldn't ignore it, and Kuro—everyone loved Kuro. Maybe if they were more like him he'd pay more attention to them, was the subconscious thought on all their minds, even if they would never notice it, never think such things on their own.

He hated it.

Well, not hated. Hate was much too strong of a word. Kuro Shirosaki didn't necessarily hate anything—he just really disliked some things. He didn't like the fact that people felt the need to be silent when they were around him. He liked it when his friends and family and others surrounded him and were happy and made noise—and he liked it when he could just sit with them all contently, listening to their excited chatter and enjoy the things that made them  _them_.

Sure, he liked it when it was quiet, because sometimes the noise would make his head hurt, but the silence, the glances—those made his chest hurt, and  _that_ was probably the only thing that Kuro hated. The ache in his chest when certain things happened, or when he was in certain places, like the ocean—though he'd gotten over his fear of the sea a while ago, he still felt a little wary—or when people said certain phrases that would make him feel a little off—but he didn't know what that feeling, what that pain was called, and he didn't think he could tell anybody. Kuro would take a headache from the rowdy noise of his friends over that pain in his chest any day of the rest of eternity.

Kuro blinked, and took a bite of his watermelon, before swallowing thickly and setting the bowl on the bedside table. He glanced at it and let out a sigh. It wasn't even half empty yet—Heiko, his  _adoptive mother_ (sometimes he almost had to remind himself of that), would most likely be slightly disappointed that he hadn't eaten any more.

He snuggled down into the blankets on his bed and closed his eyes, hoping that the headache would go away, and praying that the chest pain wouldn't come to replace it.

His Victini was silent as he was—it had never even made a noise since it had properly met him, save for the few sounds of comfort when he needed them—and curled up into a ball at his side.

 _ **(-Pokemon**_ ~

Only a couple of months later, and Kuro was thirteen. It had been an anonymous decision that Kuro Shirosaki's birthday would fall on the date he'd been found on the beach by Ando Kuwabara. Cheren and Bianca were especially excited, since that was also the day that Nuvema Town's own Pokemon Scientist, Professor Juniper, was going to give them their starter Pokemon.

Despite the small fact that Kuro already had a Victini, whose name was Vultri, Juniper was sending him the Pokemon anyway. Vultri was more of a companion than a Pokemon partner—if Kuro had an attack and no one was around, Vultri would escape it's own pokeball and go find help. It said a lot about Vultri and Kuro's relationship that Vultri didn't use it's tricks to escape the pokeball and return the the wild, despite having that chance ever since it's capture. Vultri was extremely protective of Kuro, and no one would have it any other way, specially Vultri itself.

"C'mon, Kuro-kun!" Bianca sang as she dashed into his home. "Where's the box? Is it on the table? Nope!" She turned to him. "Where's the Pokemon Professor Juniper gave you?" She giggled madly and bounced up and down until a pale hand landed on her shoulder and tethered her to the ground. Kuro smiled and Cheren nodded back, a smile that was in equality to a grin on his own face. "Calm down imouto." He told her, before turning back to Kuro. "So? Where are they?" He watch Kuro tilt his head, before the younger boy turned around and started up the stairs without a word—obviously. They followed without hesitation.

Vultri was curled up on the desk when they walked into Kuro's room, right next to a medium-sized boy that sat next to a small stack of books, that Kuro hadn't picked up in months after reading them the first time, due to his eidetic memory.

Bianca began to squeal when she saw the box and rushed over to it, pausing before he had even touched the lid and looking back at the two boys, who stood back and were watching her, uncertainly. "Um... Actually, I think Kuro-kun should go first—after all, it's his house, ne?"

Cheren tilted his head for a moment, before nodding. "Yeah, that seems about right." he turned to his pseudo brother and smiled. "Well? Are you going to open it or not?"

Kuro blinked and raised an eyebrow pointedly, which was almost like a roll of the eyes for him, and Cheren smirked. He raised his own eyebrow, and Kuro shook his head, going over to the box and taking off the lid. Three pokeballs sat inside, waiting. Wasting no time, as was his way(sometimes), Kuro reached in and grabbed the closest one, which turned out to contain a Snivy, which he found out by looking closely into the red side of the ball. He shrugged and looked back up.

Cheren nodded. "Grass type, then. You should balance it out with a water type and gather a few fighting types, since you already have a fire type, which is good. I guess Bianca should go next, then." He motioned for the girl to go ahead.

Bianca tried to be polite and refuse to turn, but her impatient excitement got a hold of her and he rushed over to the box, looking between the two pokeballs, undecided. Kuro and Cheren smiled—or smirked—knowingly at each other.

"I... guess I'll go with Oshawott, then..." the girl nodded and reached down the grab the ball, and smiling as she felt the Pokemon inside shift contently. "Alright Cheren. I guess you get Tepig—you don't mind, do you?" She asked quickly, worried her friend and older brother-type figure would be angry at her.

Cheren rolled his eyes and pushed his glasses up a bit since they had began to slip forward. "No, Bia-chan, I don't. I know Tepig's weaknesses and strengths anyway, and I'll be able to utilize them to my advantage in a battle. He's a strong Pokemon, in the least, just as strong as Oshawott or Snivy if you know how to use him." He picked up the last pokeball and tapped the top in apology. "No offense, little guy." The Tepig glared up at him and huffed, rolling his beady little eyes. A moment later, the Pokemon nodded in acceptance, and Cheren smiled. Kuro tilted his head as Cheren looked up at them.

"Let's be the strongest Pokemon trainers in Unova." He told them, suddenly, looking determined. Bianca blinked, before brightening."Yeah! We'll be the best! Whaddya say, Kuro-kun? I bet you'll be the strongest of us three, but we'll all be at the top, right?" She smiled, and Kuro nodded, smiling slightly.

"Great!" The girl cheered, before her eyes widened and she looked back at the violet-eyes boy. "Burt first, Kuro-kun—let's have a Pokemon battle!"

Kuro blinked, taken slightly aback, but Cheren spoke before he could reply in any way. "Where,  _here_?"The older boy sounded skeptical. "You can't fight a Pokemon  _battle inside_ , silly imouto. Pokemon battles are sometimes highly destructive. You don't want to put Kuro-kun's room into ruin, do you?"

Bianca blanched. "No! I wouldn't ever! But really," she rolled her eyes ,"it can't be that bad, and you just said  _sometimes_ , so we should be fine in here, right?"

Kuro raised an eyebrow, and the blond girl blushed slightly. Cheren sighed. "Who knows more about this stuff than you, imouto?"

"...You." Bianca grumbled.

"That's right," Cheren pushed his glasses up his nose, as they were sliding down again. "And who had done extensive reading on this very subject and had a clearer idea of what could happen?"

Bianca rolled her eyes. " _You_." She paused for a second, tilting her head, and continued. "And Kuro-kun..."

Cheren blinked, then nodded. "Yes, correct. So, who should you really listen to on this?"

"You," Bianca huffed. "And Kuro-kun."

"So we should take this  _outside_."

Bianca looked at Kuro, who nodded.

" _Fine_..." she sighed, Then she perked back up and skipped out of the room.

Cheren and Kuro exchanged glances before following after her.

 _ **(-Pokemon**_ ~

"Oshawott, use Focus Energy!" Bianca called. They were now in Kuro's front yard. This was going too fast—Kuro was just so amazing at Pokemon battles, even better than Cheren might be, even though she hadn't tested that theory. Maybe if she bid her time right, she could get in an attack and—

Kuro sent his Snivy a look. Wordlessly, the Snivy somehow managed to translate the words into a command, just as Vultri had learned to do only days after Kuro had caught it. Snivy dashed forward and used Vine Whip and effectively defeated her Oshawott, which fainted and was returned to it's pokeball. Bianca sat in the grass, a little bummed out that she'd lost, while Kuro and Cheren stared at her silently. She looked up, Snivy looked a little smug that he'd won, but she knew that all Snivy, and their evolutions, appeared like that. This Snivy almost looked a little apologetic that he'd won."It's okay, Kuro-kun is a strong Pokemon Trainer." She told the Snivy, who nodded, apparently happy. "I'll win, pone day," she smiled at her friend, who nodded back with a smile, "Kuro-kun."

"But!"She jumped back up, hugging Oshawott's pokeball to her chest. "From this battle, I now know what to name my Oshawott! He's a boy, and I know just what to call him," She smiled down at her Pokemon Partner, who was just waking up. Oshawott lifted it's paws to the inside of the ball and peered up at her. "I'm going to nickname him Ekitai."

"...Liquid?" Cheren raised an eyebrow. "How... creative." Bianca stuck her tongue out at him—the Oshawott seemed happy with his nickname anyway. "So, what are you guys going to name your Pokemon?" She asked.

"I'm going to call my Tepig Moesashi, which means "ember," He'll be the spark that starts the fire that will signify my rise to being a great Pokemon Trainer." Cheren replied, and his Tepig, which was out of it's pokeball and lounging in his lap, seemed to swell with pride at it's new name. "Kuro?" He turned to his proclaimed little brother. Kuro came over and fell to the ground next to him, pulling his knees to his chest. His outfit had changed a little over the year since they'd met him. He now wore black cargo pants, and a black wrap-around tunic that had gray trim and the Pokemon symbol on the left chest. His Trainer hat was black as well, with another gray Pokemon symbol on the front, and his feet were covered in black combat boots with gray laces and heel. He slipped a hand into one of the pockets of his pants and pulled out a small notepad and reached up to take the navy blue mechanical pencil that he always had tucked behind his right ear. Cheren leaned over to read what he wrote, and watched the letters form in Kuro's neat, beautiful handwriting. Bianca bounced up and read over the boys' shoulders. "Kizoku? Well," She looked down at the Snivy that perched on Kuro's shoulder. "He sure looks like a noble." The Snivy appeared to stand straighter. "Guess he likes it."

Kuro nodded and looked over at Cheren. His expression seemed to ask the older boy "Now what?"

Cheren sat up, stowing Moesashi back in his pokeball. "Let's make it a game." he told them. Bianca and Kuro tilted their heads. "A game?" The blond girl asked. "Make what a game?"

"Well,"he started, "We've already got instructions from Professor Juniper, and she's given us those Pokedex—now all we got to do is start our journey and challenge the gym leaders, making our way to the Pokemon League to beat the Elite Four, and eventually the champion—if we really do wanna be the best of the best, like we said." He looked them both in the eyes. "Since we've finally got Bianca's dad to let her become a Pokemon trainer—that took me and her years in trying, Kuro. I bet it was my cute little otouto's adorable face that really got him to agree—" Kuro thought it had more to do with the man's wife, Clara, than anything, but he decided not to mention anything."All we got to do is go over to Route 1 and start catching Pokemon, Then we'll level them up until we think we're strong enough to challenge the first gym leader when we get to the next city over."

"Wow, you've really planned this all out." Bianca told him, slightly awed. Kuro smiled. "So, I getcha—but what "game" are you talking about?"

"Well, lets all meet up at the beginning of Route 1 tomorrow morning, and spend today catching Pokemon. Then, we'll compare and whoever has the most Pokemon caught tomorrow when we meet, wins the game!"

Bianca tilted her head to the side and grinned. "Yeah, that sounds fun! You up for it, Kuro-kun?"

Kuro blinked, and thought the idea over for a few seconds before agreeing."Great! Let's start now, yeah?" She asked.

"Sounds good. I'll see you both tomorrow morning. "Cheren said. "Ano, otouto?" Kuro turned back to look at him. "Can you ask your mother to pack us three breakfast, lunch, and dinner for tomorrow? Shirosaki-san's food is the best, and that would be a great way to have our first day as Pokemon Trainers."

"Oh, yeah! Please, Kuro-kun?" Bianca pleaded—though they all knew it wasn't needed, as Kuro had already began to nod. "Yay! Thanks!"She cried, hugging him. Then she released him and leaped away, running for her house. "See you two tomorrow!"

"And you, Kuro-kun!" Cheren nodded, before walking off towards his own home, most likely to get some empty pokeballs. Kuro gazed after his two closest friends before disappearing back into his own home.

He wondered who would win this "game" tomorrow.

 _ **(-Pokemon**_ ~

Kuro hugged his mother one last time before tightening his scarf around his neck. Heiko was getting a little teary-eyed now, so he had decided it was time to go. He leaned down to grab the handle of the backpack Heiko had filled with food(she'd gotten a little into cooking, at last, after she'd taken him in—you could say that the whole of Nuvema Town had been grateful for that simple fact) and smiled as he straightened back up.

"Oh, Ro-chan," Heiko sniffed. "I can't believe you're leaving already!" She wiped at her eyes again and kept her hands up, on either side of her face and pressing over her mouth and she smiled.

Kuro nodded, strapping the backpack onto his back before bringing his hands forward to tell her, Don't worry. It's not like I won't come back again. I promise to visit frequently. Kuro, Heiko, and many of the others in Nuvema Town had learned sign language together so Kuro could speak with them.

Heiko nodded. "I-I know, but.. You've only been here for just a few years! And they passed by so fast!" She lurched forward and wrapped her arms around him. Kuro looked behind her and saw Ando leaning against the door frame that lead into the living room. He had a small smile on his face—like a master finally seeing his apprentice off. That was what it was, in a way. After all, Ando had taught Kuro everything he knew about Pokemon Battles. Kuro sent the young man a thankful smile and signed behind Heiko back and she clung to him—I'll see you again soon, right?

Ando's smile widened, if only slightly, and he sent the short pre-teen a nod.

Kuro felt almost relieved. At least Ando with be with them on some parts of their journeys—plural, as he had a feeling that he, Cheren, and Bianca would split up sooner or later, even if they didn't realize. Good. I'm glad. Thank you for everything you've done and will do.

Ando watched Heiko sniffle into Kuro's shoulder for a bit, before signing back. Please do not forget anything I've taught you, hai?

Kuro shook his head slightly, careful not to disrupt his mother.

Then I'm sure I'll see you very soon. Ando grinned a bit—and Kuro felt accomplished. He loved it when he could make Ando smile. He just wished the man, or his mother, would gather up the guts to finally confess their feelings to each other. He knew they would be happier together than right beside one another but separated. He somehow knew that that was painful. He wondered if that lingering feeling was something left over from the life he'd lived before. He smiled back at Ando and their silent conversation was broken when Heiko released him from the hug. Kuro quickly hugged her back and waved, before walking out the door.

"Come back  _soon_ , do you hear?" Heiko shouted after him, and Kuro almost grinned, waving again over his shoulder.

It took him a few minutes to make it to the small intersection, where the stairs that led down to the sea lagoon were on the left, and the tall grass was on your right. Route 1 welcomed you as you stepped forward—but he didn't step forward yet. He looked in his bag to confirm the presence of his Patrat, Purrlion, and Lillipup, which he'd caught yesterday, before joining Cheren and Bianca; who he saw a few feet ahead of him. They were speaking in low tones. Bianca looked up quickly and caught sight of him.

"Kuro-kun!" She waved excitedly. "Come over here! How many Pokemon did you catch?"

Kuro reached into his bag and brought out the three pokeballs, and both Cheren and Bianca groaned.

"Darn. You won!" Cheren exclaimed. "Both of us only caught two since we parted yesterday."

"Yeah," Bianca told him, sounded a little put out, but she brightened quickly enough. "I got one Purrlion and a Patrat. Cheren's got a Patrat and a Lillipup."

"I'm a bit happy about that," The raven-haired boy admitted. "I've heard that the Lillipup's final evolution is pretty strong. I guess that the Patrat is the easiest to catch, since we all have one."

"Either that, or we're all really awesome Pokemon Trainers," Bianca cheered, and Kuro smiled at her, tilting his head.

"Bianca wants us to travel to the first gym together—"

"I wanted us to do the  _whole journey_  together, all the way to the Pokemon league!" Bianca pouted, glaring at Cheren, and Kuro almost chuckled.

Cheren shook his head. "I don't think that's going to happen. After all, we won't get stronger if we grow to rely on each other. We could meet up in some places, or call using the transceivers, but other than that? I think I'm good. I want to get strong on my own, not with help."

Don't be like that. Kuro signed to him, and Cheren's eyes immediately zeroed in on the hand movement and translated them into words, like he'd trained himself and Bianca to do when Kuro wanted to tell them something. Sometimes you need help, ne? The best thing to do is acknowledge that fact, and accept the help when it comes.

Cheren sighed. "Right, I know..." He looked at Kuro for a moment, then frowned. "I guess one of us should go with you, though. I mean, what if you need help? What if you have an attack? What if you need to talk to someone but they don't know Sign language?" The boy was now clearly panicking, even if just a little. Kuro laid a hand on Cheren's shoulder and sent him a look. Cheren froze. "Ah, right. You can take care of yourself... But—you always forget about your pills! I need to be there to remind you! Or Bianca!"

"Oh, he'll be fine, Cheren-nii!" Bianca waved her hand dismissively. "I'm sure he'll find someone for that. Kuro-nii's just like that. Everyone loves Kuro-kun, they gravitate to him—he's like a cuddle magnet. How can you deny a cute face like that?" Kuro blushed, and Cheren grinned. "Yeah, you're right. I was worrying for nothing. But," she leveled a serious look at Kuro, "you best take a pill now, at least, in case you forget later. And then take one whenever your chest feels tight or starts to hurt—isn't that what Dr. Haruto said?"

Kuro nodded, taking out his medication and popping one pill into his mouth, swallowing it dry. Both Cheren and Bianca shuddered. "I don't know how you can do that," the blond girl told him. "I always have to drink mine, swallow it with water."

"Me too," Cheren agreed. "It feels weird without water."

"Hey, that reminds me, did your mom pack us some food?" Bianca bounced forward. Kuro tilted his head for a moment, before shoving the backpack on his shoulder over at her. She grabbed it with obvious delight. "Yay!"

Soon, each pre-teen was ful and ready for adventure. The three stood side by side and looked out over Route 1. Bianca looked over at her friends. "I know this is kinda cliché, but can you please just in... indul... um—"

"Indulge in you?" Cheren smiled.

She grinned. "Yeah."

Kuro looked over at her, and the two boys nodded. "Okay," the girl told them. "One, two, three—!"

As one, they all brought one foot forward and stepped onto Route one, officially beginning the first leg of their journey to becoming the strongest Pokemon Trainers Unova Region has ever seen.

 _ **(-Pokemon**_ ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For you, Choco. I'm sorry this took so darn long :(  
> Please read it and review your thoughts! 
> 
> With love,
> 
> Viper.


	3. Leviticus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuro learns the laws of the land, and meets two mysterious characters, one of them named after a letter. The other is called Ghetsis, and Kuro doesn't like him at all.

_**Chapter Three: Leviticus** _

* * *

Kuro watched with a small amused look on his face as the pretty officer woman lectured his Snivy with mock seriousness. "There's no running in the Pokemon Centers, young man." She told him, and Kizoku had the decency to look abashed—or, as much as a Snivy could appear.

They'd just arrived at Accumula Town, and Kuro had stopped at the local Pokemon Center to have his collected Pokemon healed. He had a good number of them caught, now, around five. Vultri usually stayed out of it's pokeball to sit on his shoulder, and was observing the situation with an almost-smirk.

"Now, what do you have to say for yourself?" Officer Amelia asked, hands on her hips. Kizoku huffed and glanced away, eyes landing on Kuro for half a second, before he turned back to Amelia and held his hand... paw/leaf appendages—over his mouth, and shook his head.

Kuro rolled his eyes while Officer Amelia frowned in confusion. "Eh? You're not gonna even talk to me?" She complained, a hand over her heart. "How rude!"

Kuro pursed his lips and looked away as his very affronted Snivy puffed up indignantly and seemed to, without a sound, begin lecturing the bemused officer with very overemphasized hand gestures. It wasn't Kizoku's fault, really. All of Kuro's pokemon seemed to believe that humans could communicate with them without them having to make any sound at all, because Kuro never spoke a single word. His Purrloin acted like an adolescent lion while around strangers, unless Kuro was there—then, she acted more like your average house cat, if maybe a bit more prone to cuddling. She was, at the moment, being stashed away in his bag along with the other two that had just been healed. Vultri was the only one of his pokemon able to escape her pokeball—but she was tutoring Kizoku in her little thief-in-the-night tricks, so he might be able to pull it off soon. He was already able to get past the first safe guard for at least five seconds before the second one pulled him back in. Kuro didn't mind; as long as they didn't leave him, they could do whatever they wanted. He didn't like keeping them cooped up all day in the pokeballs anyway.

Well, his Patrat tended to stay in it's pokeball all day even when Kuro offered to let him out. He was such a lazy little rodent.

"Alright, alright!" Officer Amelia laughed, patting the still very-much-offended-looking Snivy on it's head, shaking her own in amusement. "I get it. You're a quiet guy."

Kuro almost chuckled—he didn't like to be caught laughing. It sometimes made people uncomfortable, when no sound came out of his mouth—and instead let out a sigh. Kizoku was actually a real chatty creature, and Kuro was trying his best to dissuade him from the idea that he wasn't aloud to talk since Kuro wasn't  _able_  to. Maybe it was Kizoku's way of letting Kuro know that he wouldn't leave Kuro no matter what, but Kuro found it an unnecessary notion. He already knew Kizoku was loyal to a fault, like Vultri and his Purrloin. His Lillipup was beginning to warm up to him extremely quickly as well, and his Patrat just seemed to be an aloof character all around. They were all around the skill-range classified, in the Trainer Handbook, as level 7. Vultri was level  _28_ , however, as she was the eldest, and Kizoku was almost at level 10.

It was actually kind of puzzling. He'd read it took pokemon a bit longer to form attachments to their trainers after captures. The average pokeball 'incubation' stage, in the beginning, was recorded as at least a day-and-a-half before the pokemon calmed enough to be released and registered in the database. By three days after capture, the pokemon were suppose to have adjusted to life under a trainer.

Instead, his pokemon got over it at least half an hour after capture and had warmed up to him in a matter of a day and a half, instead of the supposed half a month to two months it took regular wild pokemon to bond with their 'captors.'

Either Bianca was right, and Kuro really did have a strange power to calm pokemon down and befriend them, or the pokemon he'd run into so far were just  _weird_.

"Ah, so you're this little guys Trainer, then?" Officer Amelia's face was suddenly five inches from his own, and Kuro jerked back with wide violet eyes, blinking. When had she come over to him? Vultri hunched her shoulders forward in a tense way, and Kuro glanced behind the brunette policewoman to see Kizoku with his chest puffed out, annoyed at being called 'little.' Kuro's lip twitched into a half-smile and he looked back to meet Amelia's eyes, giving her a nod.

"He's a cute one. You let your pokemon out of their pokeballs most of the time?" She noticed curiously, tilting her head to the side as she stepped back to give him more space. He must have been zoned out, if she'd been up in his face like that to get his attention.

Kuro glanced at Vultri, who blinked back at him with wide blue eyes. Kizoku had made his way back to him and was clinging to the hem of his combat pants. Kuro gave another nod, shrugging.

"Hm," Amelia hummed. "Different from most. Most Trainers keep their pokemon in their pokeballs while they travel, so the pokemon don't get tired before a potential Battle, which you tend to run into a lot of while traveling the Routes."

She gave him a once over. "You new tot he Training business? I haven't seen you in this town before, and you look pretty young."

Kuro pursed his lips, slightly annoyed at how many questions she was asking him, but nodded once more. He supposed it wasn't really her fault. She didn't know he couldn't speak—back in Nuvema, he must have gotten too used to everyone knowing better than to ask him questions if they didn't know sign language.

Which reminded him—

As Officer Amelia went on to speak again, he lifted his hands and gave her a questioning look. She stopped, confused, and raised her eyebrows. He pointed at himself, brought his right index finger down on his left, as if striking it, then made the sign for four with his right hand and tapped his lips with his index finger on the same hand, gazing at her with an inquiring look.

Her face seemed to brighten in realization. "Oh! Can you—I mean," she paused, then lifted her own hands. Kuro felt a small smile stretch over his face as he watched her sign, I know sign language. Can you read lips?

Kuro blinked, then tilted his head, moving his hands to reply. He made the same signs from before, which meant, I can't speak, then pointed at himself again, before clenching his fists in front of him, the backs of his hands facing upward.

He brought them down once, then taps his right ear with his right index finger, which meant, I can hear.

Amelia nodded, a smile on her own face. "Would you like to sign, or is it okay if I speak? I'm still learning sign language, so I'm not very good at it yet. I don't want to say something that might accidentally insult you," she blushed, embarrassed, and Kuro eyes made little, upturned U shapes as he smiled at her. He nodded, and she relaxed.

"So," she began again, a thoughtful look on her face. "You said you were new to Training pokemon—lots of new Trainers travel to Accumula Town first thing because of all the low level pokemon around this area. It's a good place for beginners. Are you one of them?"

Kuro tapped his transceiver open and brought up the digital map of Unova region, scaling it over until it showed Nuvema Town's location. Amelia nodded, looking over his shoulder at the device.

"Nuvema Town then," she nodded to herself, as if that had been what she'd suspected all along, she turned back to look at him, which he was grateful for. Mute people tended to get nervous or uncomfortable when they couldn't see the face of people they were talking to, he'd read. And, even though he didn't need to read her lips to know what she was saying, and he wasn't one of those to get nervous without literal face-to-face comparison , he was still glad to know she knew her stuff regarding people with his disability.

"I know you have a Conduct Handbook, like all registered Trainers are required to have," Amelia was saying, "but it's required by me, as the first officer to make contact with you, to go over them with you. You don't mind, do you?"

Kuro shook his head, bringing up is hands to let her know he actually appreciated the opportunity to double check the laws with someone who was as well-versed in them as her. She beamed.

"Okay!" She said. "Let's sit down here." She pulled out a chair at the table in the Pokemon Center's lounge for him, then sat across from him. "I'm only required to go over the basic laws with you, but I'll answer any questions you have."

Kizoku realized his Trainer had just started a rather boring, to him, meeting, and retreated back into his pokeball, but Lillipup twitched inside his own pokeball—and Kuro let him out, knowing the pokemon was interested in what was on the pages of the book Doctor Juniper had given him. Vultri was a stickler for the rules, he knew, so Kuro wasn't surprised when she hooped off his shoulder and onto the table to get a better look at the book—and to get closer to hear what Officer Amelia was going to say. Lillipup curled up in Kuro's lap with both eyes on the paperback volume.

Amelia laughed, seeming delighted. "I always love pokemon who are interested in the laws of the regions!" She said, then leaned forward. "Alright, let's start with Age requirements. You have to be at least ten years old to officially own a registered pokemon, and twelve to legally start leveling your pokemon up without adult supervision—the adult having at least three years of Pokemon training under their belt. How old are you right now?"

Kuro pushed his Pokemon Trainer identification card across the table, and she leaned forward to examine it. "Oh! Wow, I must seem rude, I didn't even ask you for your name!" She seemed embarrassed. Amelia coughed into her fist as Vultri gave her a smug look. Kuro knew that look—it meant his Victini was laughing at the officer. He reached over and swatted one of her ears. Vultri seemed to sulk a little.

"I see," Amelia spoke up, after looking closer at his card. Then, she smiled at him. "Kuro Shirosaki, Ace Trainer, ID No. 57511. So you're aiming to challenge the big leagues, huh?"

Kuro released a put-upon sigh, and nodded. Amelia laughed. "Not a big goal for you, then?"

Kuro raised his hands. I'm mostly doing it for my friends. They want to challenge the Champion and become famous Trainers. I just don't want to be left behind.

Amelia watched the signs he was making closely, mouthing words to herself. When he was finished, she blinked, then looked up. "I got most of that. Doing it for your friends, I think that's an admirable goal."

Kuro looked away, slightly embarrassed, and Amelia laughed. "For a while I thought you didn't make any type of face! Ah, you're really so cute, Shirosaki-kun!"

Kuro hid his face in Lillipup's fur, and the pokemon gave a quiet, amused bark.

"Okay," Amelia calmed herself, handing his card back. "So, you've got the papers for an Ace Trainer, that's good. Transportation laws next, I guess, and then we can talk about the rules for pokemon battles," She glanced down at the handbook to point the section out.

"It says it here. If you want to buy a bike, which might I say is pretty useful for getting around; first of all, you'll need the correct amount of money. Stealing a bike will land you in the nearest jail house for three days, and you'll also be fined /p/300. Same for stealing skateboards and rollerblades and such, but you don't need a receipt on hand for those if you get pulled aside by an officer like me, and the fine is only /p/120. Stealing other things, like another Trainer's items, is a lesser offense, so they'll only land you an single night in the jail houses, and you'll only be fined /p/50 per item, but it's still  _illegal_. Motorbikes are very expensive, and you'll need a special license for them—plus, you have to be at least sixteen to buy one. Stealing one of those lands you a week in a jail house, and the fine is pretty hefty- at least /p/1,000.

"If you want a side-car on your motorbike for a pokemon or other passenger, you'll need to register it and have special papers signed by the Transportation Administration in Castelia City. You have to be eighteen to buy and drive a truck or a car, which also requires special papers, and the fine for stealing one of those is at least twice the amount of the fine for a stolen motorbike. Also, if you steal a truck, you'll be held in a jail house until they can transfer you over to the prison in Castelia City, where you'll be held until someone bails you out. There are other laws concerning stolen transportation, but I think you get the gist of that. You'll need to spend a year in Castelia Academy to gain permission to drive airships—like balloons and blimps—but to become a pilot you need to graduate the remedial classes, which takes two years and three weeks of remedial courses. It's the same to pilot submarines or ships, but you'll need to be recommended to the academy by an alumni for that."

Kuro blinked, reading the laws she was mentioned as Amelia spoke, then looked up when she paused to catch her breath. She grinned at him. "Lengthy, huh? But, if we didn't have laws, there would sure be a lot of chaos around the Unova region, wouldn't there?"

He nodded, cracking a smile. They weren't that hard to remember, and he wasn't going to be old enough to even try most of this for a few years, so he didn't think he'd have to worry about it just yet. He might invest in a bike, though. Not now, he didn't have the money—but maybe someday soon. Walking was bound to get old.

"Of course," Officer Amelia went on, taping her chin. "You can use pokemon for transportation too. Plenty of people do it, but that has laws regarding it too. If you want to teach a pokemon the ability Fly or Swim, you'll need to have it registered in the database along with the pokemon's information. There are certain aerial routes you'll need to memories and stick too if you utilize Fly, but Swim is pretty free reign for Trainers. Pokemon Rangers patrol the waters most used, though, so if you encounter any problems or have an complaints, you can speak to one of them. If you divert from the aerial routes without good reason that can be confirmed by an authority figure, then you'll be fined /p/1500. This law is here so you don't accidental run into any airships. You might get hurt."

Kuro nodded, flipping the pages until he reached the Battle laws. He already knew them all, but Amelia had mentioned she's talk about them next.

"You can only legally steal another Trainer's items in a sanctioned Battle—which means you and the other Trainer need to be in agreement that the winner can keep the stolen items before the Battle starts. Otherwise, stealing is prohibited, and even in a sanctioned battle, you cannot keep the items if you lose, even if you stole them during the battle. And it is absolutely forbidden to steal another Trainer's pokemon for any reason. That'll land you in the prison in Castelia City, three years for each pokemon you've stolen, and you can only get out if you settle a case in court in Lacunosa Town, with a lawyer—otherwise you'll be held on a five-year probation and will only be allowed to Battle with pokemon in official Battles with at least five witnesses—and one witness must be a member of the International Police; which means and officer like me, a Pokemon Ranger, or a Cadet. It's some pretty serious business, to steal a pokemon. The only way you can get a pokemon legally is if you're willingly given them, you catch them in the wild, or you acquire them in a sanctioned Trade. You catch all that?"

Kuro raised a fist, nodding it up and down a few times to give her inquiring look the affirmative Yes.

Amelia beamed. "Great! Alright, that should be it. Now, I just need to stamp your Trainer card so that other officers know you've already been talked to about this. Here," she pulled out a small case that looked like a square compact, before she opened it and pulled out a stamp. She pressed it neatly against his card, before lifting it to reveal the International Police's insignia, with two vertical bars next to it, in green.

"There you go!" Officer Amelia smiled at him, And Kuro put his card and Handbook away in his messenger bag. He'd given his backpack to Bianca when they, and Cheren, had all separated when they'd reached Accumula Town. Cheren had wanted to catch some more powerful wild pokemon before challenging the gym in Striaton City, and Bianca had wanted to explore the region some more before committing herself to leveling her pokemon up and starting on the journey to the gyms and the League. He'd moved his stuff into this messenger bag he'd bought at one of the Accumula Town shops, and Bianca had been on her way with Oshawott.

"Anyway, I wish you luck in your journey," Amelia told him, serious for once. Kuro blinked in surprise, before giving her a small smile and nodding. She smiled back, then continued. "I think I'd get worried about you, really, so I want to give you my transceiver ID, so you can contact me if you get into trouble. It'll only work if you're in an area with signal, but I'll feel a lot better. I don't normally do this—otherwise I'd have hundreds of numbers on my contact list," she laughed. "But, I think you're a special case—unless it offends you."

Kuro almost wanted to feel insulted, but he knew it was a good idea—and she was right, he  _was_  at a disadvantage, due to being mute. He brought up his hands to explain to Amelia about how forgetful of his pills he was, but then decided against it and settled for a nod. Amelia gave him her contact information, then added him into her own transceiver—her personal one, not the Bureau-issued one, which kind of surprised Kuro, since he hadn't been expecting that—then let go of his wrist he'd let her hold so she could view  _his_  contact information.

"Ha, now I feel better." Officer Amelia smiled, then cast a stern look toward Kizoku, who had sensed the end of the boring meeting and escaped his pokeball via Vultri, who'd pressed the open button for him with her little paw. Kuro rolled his eyes and Vultri purred, rubbing her nose against his ear after hopping back onto his shoulder.

"And you!" The brunette officer pointed an accusing finger at a seemingly unconcerned Snivy. "I better not catch you prancing around the Pokemon Center again! Or I'll make Shirosaki-san keep you in your pokeball for an entire  _day_!"

Kizoku looked absolutely horrified at the prospect, which made both Amelia and Kuro chuckle a little. The Snivy let out a whine, then froze, before hiding his face behind on of the pockets of Kuro's combat pants. Amelia giggled.

"I think I understand now, why he doesn't want to make a noise." She winked at Kuro, then made her way back to her station, which was just outside the Pokemon Center. Kuro watched her leave, then exchanged a look with Vultri.

Kizoku made a strange, almost-hissing sound, then started to climb up his pant leg. Kuro sighed, bending down the scoop the Snivy up in his arms, and exited the Pokemon Center.

_**(~Pokemon~** _

Kuro frowned, hugging Kizoku to his chest as he surveyed the crowd gathered in the Accumula Town plaza. He spotted Cheren in a corner, leaning against a pillar with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. Kuro sighed and made his way over to his older brother. Cheren would have been gone now, if it hadn't been for the irritating people dressed as knights of some  _cult_  or something, not allowing anyone to pass on to the next town until their leader made his 'speech.'

Cheren's eyes landed on him when he was a few feet away, and the raven pushed off the pillar and dashed over to him. "Isn't it outrageous?" He seethed. "They wouldn't even let me leave Accumula Town unless I was headed back down Route 1, and I'm not even interested in what they're so-called  _leader_  has to say!"

Kuro sighed, anticipating this kind of reaction from his somewhat tense friend. He reached forward and pulled Cheren into a quick hug, knowing it was one of the sure way to make the older boy relax. Sure enough, Cheren sighed and returned the gesture, mumbling under his breath.

"It's just," he frowned. "It's hardly fair. I don't think it's even legal for them to do—that officer that was outside the Pokemon Center earlier tried to get them to stop, but the refused to listen to her. She left to go meet the backup officers she called, but I don't think these guys will be here for much longer."

Sure enough, the knight-cosplaying group of pokemon trainers—they couldn't be anything else—had straightened into firm lines, and a tall, robed man with long green hair was now standing in front of the congregation of people.

The green haired man gave a charming smile that made shivers run down Kuro's spine. It was so utterly fake that Kuro didn't see how no one else noticed—and he didn't see how  _he_  noticed. Maybe it was the way the friendly upturn of the lips was perfectly crafted to look cheerful and inviting, maybe it was the way it didn't quite reach the man's eyes, maybe it was the way those eyes were so cold—Kuro wasn't sure. He just  _knew_ , somehow, that the smile was as fake as a smile could be.

"Greetings, ladies and gentlemen," he began, then seemed to run on right ahead to say what he'd come to say. "My name is Ghetsis, here to represent Team Plasma, and today I would like to talk to you all about  _pokemon liberation_."

Kuro blinked, and exchanged a puzzled glance with Cheren as the people gathered before them began to murmur in confusion.

Ghetsis only nodded his head, almost respectfully, but Kuro narrowed his eyes and caught the slight edge of  _condescending_. "I'm sure most of you believe that we humans and pokemon are partners, that have come to live together because we want and need each other."

Kuro's eyes narrowed further, and he leaned against Cheren's side. The older boy glanced down at him and wrapped an arm around him, glaring at Ghetsis as he continued to speak.

"However... is that really the truth? Have you ever considered that, perhaps, we humans only  _assume_  that this is the truth?"

Ghetsis began to pace before them as the crowd started to murmur to one another, frowns on their faces.

"Pokemon are subjects to the selfish commands of Trainers," he announced, and Cheren stiffened. Kuro hugged Vultri to his chest and she hissed almost silently, and Kizoku bristled from his place leaning against Kuro's foot. He could feel the three occupied pokeballs in his messenger bag tremble, and could have sworn his little Lillipup had just growled. Kuro sighed and focused back on the man, Ghetsis', words. He was confused. He didn't think he was being selfish. He knew his pokemon really enjoyed Battling with him. He could see it in their eyes, their expressions. Vultri had been ecstatic when he'd received Kizoku, and they had both been very excited when he'd caught them new friends. How was that selfish? He just wanted his small friends to be happy.

"They get pushed around, when they are out "partners" at work... Can anyone say, in confidence, that there is no truth in what I'm saying?" Ghetsis asked his audience.

The crowd began murmuring again, and Kuro almost wanted to scoff. He would have rejected this Ghetsis figure's entire speech, in  _complete_  confidence, if he could have. Instead, he was mute... Sometimes, Kuro hated it.

So, instead of speaking up, something he wasn't able to do, Kuro reached out to tap Cheren's side with a gently closed fist, then walked away form the gathered crowd. Cheren nodded after him and, however reluctantly, stayed behind to hear the rest of the speech. Kuro ignored whatever was being said and made his way to the exit of Accumula Town in the direction of Route 2, Kizoku chattering with small bursts of noise at his side, and Vultri curled up against his shoulder..

Before he could pass the sign dictating the road as just that, though, Kuro was stopped by a young teen with green hair similar to the Ghetsis man still speaking back at the plaza. Except, this boy's hair was a bit brighter, richer in color, he looked much closer to Kuro's age, and his eyes didn't have the same cold resonance in them as Ghetsis' did. Instead, the teen's green eyes were soft at the edges, holding some gentleness in them. His green hair was short and choppy at the top, but the back, though just as choppy, was longer and reached almost down to the boy's waist. This boy had a cleaner look about him than Ghetsis had.

"You..." The teen breathed, examining him closely with an occasional glance at Kizoku, who was hiding behind Kuro's leg again. "Your pokemon, just now it was saying..."

Kuro tilted his head, watching the other boy warily.

The boy blinked, then frowned. "You think I'm weird, saying that they talk. Pokemon  _do_  talk, though. Can't you hear them?" He asked, almost accusingly.

Kuro blinked, somewhat blindsided by this sudden confrontation. He studied the boy silently, then tilted his head to the other side, pulling Vultri down to hug her to his chest protectively—though, it was usually her protecting him.

"You can't either, then." The boy decided, almost turning away from him. "How sad... My name is N."

Kuro felt a little offended, and let go of Vultri, who hopped down and went back to comfort the surprisingly shy—for such a chatty little guy—Kizoku. Kuro watched the boy with a small frown, then lifted his hands to sign, I know how they feel, isn't that enough? None of us usually talk, we like the quiet.

Which was almost a lie, Kuro very much disliked the silence, but he liked the way his pokemon communicated with him without noise. It was  _comforting_ , knowing they could understand him without words.

The boy, N, blinked at him in confusion, before understanding washed over his features.

"...You cannot speak." He whispered, and Kuro was almost vindictively pleased to hear the guilty lilt to his voice. He shook his head, and watched as a variety of emotions seemed to run their way across N's eyes, even as his face remained mostly neutral.

Finally, the boy started again, after biting his lip for a minute. "I apologize," he made a short bow. "I was rude, wasn't I? That must be why your Pokemon are so quiet... It confused me, they're usually very talkative creatures. I assumed you didn't let them make noise."

Kuro narrowed his eyes, feeling insulted once again. He didn't like how this boy had just jumped to conclusions and had accused him of abusing his friends. Vultri and Kizoku seemed to feel that same way, since they both turned to hiss at N. The boy's green eyes widened.

"I'm sorry..." The boy tilted his head down, eyes trained on the ground. "I just assumed... No, I can't assume things. That's not the way to make conclusions." He seemed to chastise himself, then raised his head to meet Kuro's eyes.

"Can we start over? I don't want... I don't want you to think of me as someone so uncivil..." He seemed to be confused at that, but shook the look off. Kuro tilted his head once more, then nodded, reaching forward to accept the boy's hand in a short shake.

N gave a small smile. "Alright, then. My name is N. What's yours?" He blinked, then shook his head. "Um, I don't know sign language... But I'll learn it, so that we can talk to each other next time we meet."

Kuro felt his eyes widen fractionally. No one had ever been so determined to be able  _earn_  the ability to actually  _speak_  to him, aside from Heiko, Ando, and his two sibling/friends. He was aware not many people would bother with learning sign language just so that they could speak with one person who wasn't able to—and definitely not strangers who had just only now met him. Kuro couldn't help but feel more respect toward this N figure, if he was willing to dedicate himself to learn an entire language just to be able to speak with Kuro...

Kuro swallowed, then looked away, reaching down for Vultri again. The Victini seemed to understand what Kuro's wanted, and jumped back into his arms so Kuro could bury his face into her fur.

A hand landed on his shoulder, and Kuro glanced up to see N looking down at him with an almost concerned look. "Are you alright..." he glanced at Kizoku, who yipped quietly, then blinked. "...Kuro?"

Kuro inhaled sharply, and examined N with wide eyes. He hadn't been aware N could actually understand what his pokemon were saying... Kuro had never meet someone else able to communicate so deeply with pokemon before, like he was able to... Sure, Trainers and other people talked to pokemon all the time, but Kuro noticed that they never really tried to listen, not even Ando—though, Ando  _was_  better than most people, admittedly. Kuro knew Ando had a deeper bond with his Violet than most trainer were prone too.

He shook his thoughts away and glanced back at N, who was waiting. Hesitantly, Kuro nodded, then took a step back and stared at the ground. He knew, without looking, that N was biting his lip again, and felt a small amount of helplessness descend over him. He wasn't sure what to do now.

"I know!" N brightened, and Kuro looked up. "Lets have a pokemon battle! Your friends look pretty skilled, so it will be good experience for the Purrloin I have with me. How about it?"

Kuro allowed a small smile to stretch across his face, and he nodded, letting Vultri jump down to fish his pokeballs out of his bag. He released all of them and let them decide who would Battle while N released his Purrloin, who purred happily and rubbed against N's leg—much like Kuro's would act, now that he thought about it.

As if realizing the same thing, Kuro's Purrloin sauntered over to her trainer and rubbed against his leg with a purr of her own, as if to say, ' _And this one is_ _ **mine**_ _.'_

N saw this, and a small smile stole across his own face, the green eyes seeming to soften just a bit more. He looked back to Kuro, and they both pulled out their Battle Logs and traded them.

Kuro tapped the tab labeled "new Entry' on N's log, after noticing N was a rather experienced Battle Trainer, having battled many of Team Plasma's 'grunts.' He wondered briefly about that, as he filled in his Trainer information, then hit the button 'Challenge,' and handed the log back to N, who traded it for Kuro's own log. Kuro looked down at his log, and hit "Accept.' Both devices gave off a small 'ping!' sound, and the two Trainers stashed them back into their respective bags, then smiled minutely at each other.

"I only have Purrloin with me, at the moment," N told him, and Kuro nodded, looking back at his pokemon, who had just finished arguing. Vultri seemed to be sulking—it appeared that her own placement in the battle had been vetoed by the other pokemon due to her higher level. She sat off to one side and glared at her younger friends. Kuro sent her a smile that turned his eyes into small crescents and she huffed, but abated in her glaring. Neither of them noticed N watching Kuro's face avidly when he'd smiled down at the Victini.

Eventually, it was decided that Patrat would fight first, and the rodent pokemon let out a loud, put-upon sigh that made both N and Kuro laugh. Patrat slouched forward into the holographic battle rings that the aerial Battle Initiator N had tossed into the air projected onto the ground and gave the Purrloin a once-over, before sighing again. The feline pokemon appeared affronted at the reaction to her, and held herself up straighter with a nasty look in Patrat's direction. N hid a smile behind his hand and glanced at Kuro, only to be surprised to see that the other Trainer had actually  _sat down_  with his other pokemon friends to watch the battle, like he was in the audience and wasn't the battling Trainer.

N blinked, before hesitantly glancing at his own pokemon friend. The Purrloin sniffed at him, saying ' _What's_ _ **that**_ _look for? Don't worry about me, I can handle_ _ **this**_ _by myself_ ,' and N hid another smile, slowly wandering over to hesitantly sit beside Kuro. He relaxed as the other boy sent him a rather sweet, although small as it was, smile, and both Trainers turned to watch the battle unfold.

The Battle was like no other Battle N had ever experienced before. He had actually been able to just sit back to enjoy himself, and it even looked like the two battling pokemon were having the time of their lives. He looked over at Kuro, who had some amazing ability to communicate with his pokemon friends without speaking, and found himself almost feeling  _jealous_  of the boy. He wished for such a deep connection with his own pokemon friends, then scolded himself. He had that connection already. It was just that, Kuro enacted it in a different way than he did. And his pokemon friends went along with it happily.

N loved it, the Battle. Both Trainers had pretty much left the entire thing up to their pokemon to decide. N did call out moves, and he had a inkling that Kuro had somehow had as well, but in the end they left it to the two pokemon to ultimately choose which move to use on their opponent. It was like no other Battle N had ever had before, and he  _loved_  it. It was such a different strategy, once in which all participants, be it pokemon or Trainer, enjoyed themselves.

This was the type of world N had always wanted to live in. He was reserved with the way his father wanted to establish things, and he was uncomfortable with the rather competitive Battles everyone else seemed to be so entranced with. Kuro, though, he was...  _different_. He was just the kind of person N had always been looking for, but had never thought he'd ever find.

This was the kind of person N wanted as a friend.

If only all the other humans were like Kuro, then the world wouldn't seem so cold or lonely to N anymore.

In the end, Patrat won—as N had expected. His small Purrloin friend got off with a bruised prise, but was otherwise unhurt as N stashed her away in her pokeball to heal her at a Pokemon Center later. He breathed in a content sigh and smiled much more freely at Kuro than he ever had at another human being.

"That was... so much fun." He decided, almost laughing in giddiness as he pulled out his Battle Log again, watching as Kuro did the same. "I've never had a Battle like that, it was amazing."

Kuro sent him a happy smile, and N actually  _grinned—_ and this time, it reached his eyes. They traded Battle logs again, both selecting Kuro's name as the winner and singing it with their respective signatures to officially acknowledge it, as was custom after a battle.

After handing the log back to Kuro, and stashing his own away, N cast a searching look at his new... friend?

"I have to change the world for pokemon," he found himself saying, "because they're my friends. I want to world to be warmer for them, and I want them to be happy and as carefree as our friends are. I don't want humans and pokemon to just be partners—it's such a cold term. I want them to be friends, too. Will... will you help me, with that?" He held his breath, gazing into the violet eyes of the boy he'd met only an hour ago. But he felt that this was right.

Kuro seemed to stare at him for an eternity, before the boy tilted his head with a smile. He lifted his hands to sign a few sentences, it seemed, and N burned the gestures into his memory, so that he could look them up later and finally understand.

Then, Kuro turned away from him and walked off down Route 2, in the direction of Striaton City, his pokemon friends fallowing at his heels. The Snivy, Kizoku, glanced back at him with a happy smile and chittered, before disappearing into the trees with his Trainer.

N blinked, stunned. Then, an ecstatic grin stretched across his face, and it felt like his heart would burst. He spun around and dashed back into Accumula Town, the reluctance to rejoin Ghetsis at the restaurant they'd agreed to meet back at overpowered by the happy flutter of  _something_  in his chest.

_**(~Pokemon~** _

"He said pokemon are  _different_  from humans," Cheren stressed t him over his transceiver as Kuro made his way down Route 2. Kuro chuckled at the affronted look on his big brother's face as Cheren went on to say, "And I get that, I really do. Pokemon aren't humans, so there's  _bound_  to be differences, you know? But the way he  _said_  it, otouto. I just—and then he said 'Pokemon are living beings with much unknown potential, and from whom we humans have much to learn.' which I also agree with ! But—I just—It was so hard to just disagree with him after you left, Kuro-kun! The way he said things, just had you nodding your head! It made me mad!"

Kuro sighed, nodding his head as Cheren's free hand went up to rub the bridge of his nose, under his glasses. "Then— _then_  he said that-that we have a  _responsibility_  to  _liberate_  all the pokemon! Because only then will humans and pokemon 'truly be equals'— I just... ugh!"

Cheren's face disappeared for a moment, as the teen threw his hands up into the air(the transceiver being on his wrist, as they were supposed to be). Kuro blinked, shaking his head. Cheren's face reappeared, looking sheepish yet tired all at once, and Kuro frowned in worry.

"Sorry about that. This Ghetsis person, though, he just makes me—he makes me so mad! After we're done, I'm calling Bia-chan to warn her about that guy." Kuro nodded, thinking it was a good idea. Ghetsis had just rubbed the amnesiac the entirely wring way, and Kuro felt extremely uncomfortable knowing there was such a man out there as that, in the same region as his friends and him.

"Anyway," Cheren continued. "Tell me more about this N guy you met? You said he was with Ghetsis?"

Kuro blinked, then shook his head. He reached over to his transceiver's keypad with his free hand and typed out a message.  **-(( I didn't say that. I said he looked a bit like him, but much kinder. I think he was about your age, Cheren, but it was hard to tell. He was really tall.))-**

Cheren frowned down at his transceiver's screen with a thoughtful look. "Maybe they're related?" He guessed. Kuro thought about it, but had a hard time connecting the shady man named Ghetsis with the gentle, somewhat lonely but kind looking N he'd met the night before. He shook his head.  **-((I don't think it matters, really. N actually means what he's saying, I could see it, and it wasn't anything like Ghetsis was talking about. 'Liberation' and such. N just wants his pokemon friends to be happy, like I do.))-**

His big brother smiled slightly. "You and me both, Kuro-kun. Bia-chan, too, I'm sure. Her and her Oshawott are pretty close, I thought. Anyway, enough about this. Did you take your pills yet today?"

Kuro blinked, and suddenly cast the screen a rather sheepish look when Cheren groaned, an exasperated yet slightly panicked look coming over his face. "Kuro! Do I have to cal you everyday to remind you? I will! Does your chest hurt at all?"

Kuro tilted his head, then shook it slowly. Cheren studied him through the digital screen for a moment, then rolled his eyes behind his glasses. "Take them anyway, just to be sure. I don't want you to collapse in the middle of Route 2, coughing up blood with no one around to help you."

Kuro fished his pill bottle out of his messenger bag while Cheren's face began to pale on the screen as the older teen predictable began to imagine all the possible scenarios that could happen to Kuro in such a situation. Kuro popped tow capsules into his mouth and swallowed them dry, before glancing back at the small screen on his wrist. He sighed typing out a message before tapping the screen a few times to get Cheren's attention before sending it over.

**-((Don't worry so much, Nii-san. I've remembered so far, haven't I?))-**

Cheren narrowed his eyes, then huffed. "Sure. Just make sure those pokemon of yours keep an eye on you. You hear me, Vultri? Make sure Kuro doesn't accidentally kill himself or something!"

Kuro rolled his eyes as Cheren's face paled once again, and the teen started to mutter to himself "Oh, god, what if he does, what something happens and—no, but what if he—and no one's—"

Vultri lifted up her nose and sniffed while Kuro tapped the glass again. Cheren glanced back at his transceiver and bit his lip. "Just be careful, alright? I don't want anything to happen to you. You know I worry about both of you, right?"

**-((Hai, we love you too, Cheren-nii.))-**

Cheren's face stretched into a smile. "Good. Just remember that before you go off into a risky situation, alright? I'm not going to worry about all this, but I'm fine to worry about you and Bia-chan. I'm headed toward Straiten City after you, to challenge the gym leader there. Aim to challenge gym leader after gym leader and level your pokemon up along the way, that's the best way to become stronger. Challenge the gym leader in each area, before making your way to the Pokemon League to challenge the champion. Aishiteimasu, Kuro-kun. Keep safe."

With that, Cheren's connection canceled, and the transceiver went back to the home-screen. Kuro flipped it shut, lowering his arms so Kizoku could reach up to hold his hand like the Snivy had been wanted to since the middle of his and Cheren's conversation. Kuro glanced at the sky, a thoughtful look on his face and he trudged forward on Route 2, his Lillipup wobbling down the road after him.

About an hour later, he was just wading through the tall grass near the middle ground of Route 2 when his transceiver rang again, making a small, three toned 'ping!' noise similar to the Battle Log's confirmation alert. Knowing it was either Heiko, Bianca, or Officer Amelia for whatever reason—as they, besides Ando and Cheren, were the only ones with Kuro's contact information, and Cheren had just called him—he brought his wrist up level with his collar bone and flipped it open.

Heiko—his adoptive mother's- face smiled up at him. "Ro-chan! Hi, how are you?" Kuro only smiled down at her, nodding his head. Heiko beamed.

"Ando-san is out right, now—But, I'm sure if he was here, he'd want to talk to you too, see how you're doing. How are you doing, anyway? I know you're alright," she chattered on, and Kuro couldn't help but smile fondly at his mother-figure. "But, you know—did you take your pills?"'

He nodded, and she sighed. "I know, I must seem a little oppressive right now but I'm just worried, you know? I just want you to stay safe," she smiled. "Do that, for me? Ando san might not show it, "She spoke quietly, in mock secrecy, "but everyone can tell he misses you too. And you should see Josept! He's been wailing about the absence of his little Bianca-chan all day!" She giggled.

Kuro felt his smile slip a little, and he frowned, thinking about recent events. Heiko waved her free hand around, eyebrows raised. "Not that—well, it'll take some getting used to, having you three gone, but we'll manage. Don't worry about us, alright, Ro-chan?"

Kuro breathed out, and nodded at her, deciding not to mention N or Ghetsis like he'd almost done. He didn't want to worry her or Ando unnecessarily. Instead, he sent her a smile and then tilted his head.

Heiko grinned. "Ah, just checking up on you? I swear I won't do it every day, that would be a little overboard even for me," she laughed. "Anyway, Ando san might send you a message in a few days—neither of you seem video-chat types of people, so I'll cut this short. You—you remembered to pack your running shoes, right?"

Kuro rolled his eyes in that unnoticeable way of his and nodded yet again, feeling slightly put-out.

Heiko sighed, giving him a fond smile that seemed slightly teary-eyes, and Kuro stiffened, hoping she wouldn't start to cry again. He really hated it when Heiko cried. "Alright, alright. I can see I'm starting to annoy you—oh, don't shake your head like that! I'm your mother, I can tell!" She huffed, shaking her own head, blinking away the wetness in her eyes. Kuro relaxed.

"Well, I love you, as always," Kuro nodded his thanks and mutually agreement at the screen, and Heiko smiled, acknowledging it. "Mhm, you love me too. Stay safe, alright? I'll check up in..." She glanced at him, and sighed reluctantly. "A week, how about? Okay?"

He nodded again.

"Ha, okay. Ravi might steal my transceiver to give you a call, though, so don't be surprised when he does. Love you!"

Kuro flipped the screen closed again, and Lifted his tired Lillipup into his arms. Vultri and Kizoku had both retreated to their pokeballs to sleep, and Kuro noticed it was getting a bit late as he looked up at the darkening sky.

Good, he thought. He was nearly to Striaton anyway.

And it wasn't that long, as it turned out. He soon found himself checking into the Striaton City hotel and fell into the soft yet unfamiliar bed, quickly falling into a rather fitful sleep.

The next morning was bright and warm. Kuro had eaten a small breakfast at the hotel cafeteria—which was admittedly far to fancy for his tastes, and then had made his way to find something to wake his pokemon up(he couldn't decide if it was bad luck or not, finding all the pokemon who absolutely abhorred mornings). After exiting the Striaton City Pokemon Center and getting his tired Pokemon healed and re-energized, Kuro decided to walk around the town for a while, watching the people.

It was a bigger city, far bigger than Nuvema or even Accumula Town. Much bigger than Kuro was used too, but still somehow felt... cramped. It made sense—Nuvema had a lot of people, which was surprising(even though most of them were the Pokemon Trainers that were out in the ocean challenging and catching wild aquatic pokemon), but they were all spread out over a wide and open area. Striaton City was all packed together—and if this was what a city was like, Kuro didn't think he'd enjoy the big renowned Castelia city too much. Sounded crowded.

He found himself back where he'd started soon enough, and looked over at the huge, fancy building next to the Pokemon Center he'd left only half an hour earlier. Before the doors stood a big, burly man in a white dress shirt and black slacks with a black waiter's apron tied around his waist. Sunglasses were perched just under his strong eyebrows. Kuro tilted his head curiously and made his way up to him.

The burly waiter man glanced down at him, raising one of the muscle-y blond eyebrows. Kuro watched it in fascination, before meeting the hard eyes behind the shades.

The man sighed, then spoke in a rather gruff voice that sounded like sandpaper. "You looking for the Gym leader? He's not here. He might be in the Trainer's school, but if you want to challenge him, you'll have to go and find him."

Kur blinked yup and the large man on the steps, then smiled softly and reached forward to pat him on the hand, which was clenched tightly on his crossed arms. The burly man paused, blinking down at him with a blank look, but Kuro turned and walked away before he could say anything else.

He wondered if Cheren had challenged the gym leader yet. Or found him, as appeared to be the case. Cheren had messaged him about arriving in Striated that morning, so it was a possibility.

Except, Kuro had read something about there being  _three_  gym leaders in Striaton city...

Kuro shrugged, making his way toward the garden he'd seen earlier but hadn't entered. Maybe he'd find Cheren and have a friendly Battle before challenging the gym leader. It get them both experience and show Kuro how much his big brother had improved since they last battled.

_**(~Pokemon~** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, it's me again. I hope you don't mind me dropping this chapter off here...   
> just for...   
> a little while...   
> as I go...   
> to sleep...   
> finally.......


	4. Numbers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Numbered in three, Striaton City gym is the first badge Kuro must collect on his journey to challenging the Champion along with his friends. But first, he and Bianca run into two strange Team Plasma grunts in the Dream Yard.

_**Chapter Four: Numbers** _

 

 

It wasn't really a garden, Kuro realized soon after he'd started wandering around the expanse of... Well, he wasn't sure, exactly. The entrance had certainly been shady-looking, now that he thought about it, but Kuro wasn't usually one to be deterred by anything, so he'd strode forward and disappeared into the shadows.

Vultri was curled into the crook of his neck, seeming content, but Kizoku was just about one sudden noise more from leaping into his pokeball and refusing to come out until they'd left the eerie yard. Patrat had scoffed at the Snivy and was riding along on Kuro's boot as the young teen walked on, which Kizoku had snarled—rather pathetically—at in return. The grass-type Pokemon was a bit of a scaredy-cat, and Kuro wanted to smile at it, but it felt like the muscles in his face weren't working properly.

Not to say that they ever had, but he could usually pull of a small, hesitant-looking half-smile most of the time, when the circumstance called for it.

Lillipup had gotten tired half an hour ago, and had lazily clambered into Kuro's bag. He'd been distracted for a minute by the tell-tale flash of light of a pokeball opening inside his bag, and had almost tripped over a root of a rather sinister looking tree that twisted it's way into the air like an abandoned tower form some sort of fairy tale. Vultri had hissed at that, unhappily, and Kuro was sure his Lillipup was going to be lectured about proper decorum(again) sometime later on.

After walking on for a while more, Kuro was surprised to run into a girl that looked to be about a year and a half his elder. He'd run into a younger boy earlier who'd challenged him to a Battle, but Kuro realized he was just scared of the dark and trying to act tough. He had Vultri lead the lost kid, Joey, out of the yard and then continued on.

This girl, however, had dark navy hair and was wearing a peach-colored blouse over khaki capris. She eyed him as he approached the fenced in area of the densely wooded yard. Kuro stopped a few feet away and tilted his head, examining her silently in return.

The girl blinked. “What pokemon did you choose, as your starter?”

Kuro tilted his head, puzzled. He briefly wondered why she was asking, then decided it didn't matter and nudged Kizoku forward with his toe. The Snivy gave a nervous _whir_ , but the girl seemed to brighten. 

“Fight my Purrloins?” She asked, smiling. “I have two. If you beat me, I'll give you my Panpour. I have two of them, too, but they _always_ fight with each other so I think it would be a good idea to give the girl to someone who can take better care of her.”

Kuro raised his eyebrows and considered the offer. On one hand, he rather liked the team he had now, and wasn't sure he was ready to drop some of them off in day cares or any Pokemon Exchange Units. He was rather attached to the ones he had, and the law stated you were only allowed to carry twelve occupied pokeballs at a time, and you could have only a maximum of seven pokemon with you outside their pokeballs at a time—otherwise you'd be approached by an officer for crowding. The only way out of that is if you had a permit, and even that had a limit to how many pokemon you could have with you.

That said, Kuro was rather attached to his pokemon team.

On the other hand, a Panpour would level out the team he had with him pretty well. And he'd heard that the three leaders of the Striaton gym had the Pan-trio pokemon as their primaries. 

The girl watched him think about it, then offered, “It's good to have lots of different kinds of pokemon on your team. That way, you'll be ready to face any other Trainer's team, no matter what type they have. I'm not saying you'll win every time, or anything, but something usually works out in the end—there's a better chance of you being victor, at least.”

Kuro nodded at that; she was right, really, and it was just common sense. Except, Kuro didn't have the same goal as most other Trainers did. He wasn't really looking to win all his Battles. If he lost some, that was fine. The only thing matter was that his friends—humans and pokemon alike—enjoyed the Battles. 

Kuro wasn't exactly a very competitive person, by nature. Not like Cheren or Bianca were. 

That was probably Ando's fault, actually.

Kuro reached into his messenger bag and pulled out his Battle Log, and the girl smiled, bringing her own out as well. They traded them and went about setting up a new entry. Kuro entered his Trainer information, and the girl entered hers, and then they gave the logs back and tapped “Accept.”

Stashing his log away into his pack, Kuro tossed Lillipup's pokeball out instead. The pokemon yawned as the contraption opened, then cast a disgruntled look at it's trainer. Kuro only smiled at it, the corner of his lips pulling at the skin a little, unused to curving upward more than a quarter of an inch at most. 

Lillipup yawned again, trading a look with Patrat as the girl, Kuro's opponent, pulled out her first Purrloin. 

Lillipup looked disheartened as he ambled forward into the circle projected by Kuro's Battle Initiator, and Kuro couldn't keep a small sigh in. The girl giggled at his lazy pokemon and nodded at her Purrloin. 

“Use **Scratch**.” She began. 

If she was surprised at Kuro's way of battling, then she didn't show it. Kuro was grateful—most of the (admittedly few) Trainers who had challenged him along Route 2 had been rather stunned and kept asking Kuro how he'd gotten his pokemon to act on command without having to speak to them, apparently not understanding that Kuro was mute. Those of them that had understood his disability, though, almost went easy on him—before Kuro had gotten annoyed and sent Kizoku in to obliterate their teams. The Snivy was just as fond of being underestimated because of their silence as Kuro was. As in, they  _weren't_ . 

The girl was soon forced to bring out her next Purrloin, who was ordered to use Growl. The girl might have had some strategy planned, but Lillipup was apparently totally done with having to put forth effort, so used the fact that it was at least four levels higher than the girl's Purrloin and put a quick end to the Battle. 

The girl was a bit put out at having been defeated so quickly by a guy who apparently didn't even tell his pokemon to attack, but she was a good sport and shook it off, tossing him a pokeball like she'd promised. 

Kuro accepted her Battle log once more, selecting his name as the winner—the girl's name was Emi, it seemed—and then a notice popped up, saying  **-((Was the victor given** _**Panpour** _ **as was agreed upon?))-** and Kuro tapped  **(-** **Yes-)** before handing Emi's log back to her and taking back his own. If he'd selected “No,” then Emi would have a mark on her record and would be approached by an officer of the International Police's Pokemon Division, like Amelia, and would be given a talking to if it was the girl's first offense.

Emi smiled at him. “I'd have given you the male Panpour, but he's a bit of a handful, so I'd feel bad about saddling you with him. The girl Panpour is much more friendly—well,” she giggled, “at least to everyone but her brother.”

Kuro nodded, waving a farewell to her as he walked on, Vultri snuggled into his shoulder and Patrat curled around his boot once again. Emi stepped back into the shadows and seemed to walk back toward the entrance to the wooded area, throwing a “Have fun in the Dream Yard,” over her shoulder.

So, this place was called the  _ Dream Yard _ , then. Kuro tilted his head, exchanging a look with Vultri while Lillipup gave an irritated huff and tried to climb back into Kuro's bag. 

Kuro started chuckling at him and helped the annoyed pokemon back into it's pokeball for a nap. 

After a while, Kuro met the end of the gate and found an opening that looked like it had been used often. Climbing through it, he glanced around and was surprised to see that he was in some sort of ruins, as if a large building had been torn down and the construction crew had never gotten passed the 'cleaning up the area' stage. There were a few random walls that might have formed rooms once that surrounded him, and a few barrels full of some sort of substance were strewn about. Kuro ducked carefully underneath a short scaffolding that looked like it might have once been a system of stairs, leading up to a stone stage that had probably been a second floor. Now, half of it was missing and Kuro wasn't really sure it was safe to even climb onto. 

Kizoku whirred, apparently deciding Lillipup's idea was a good one, and tried to launch himself into his trainer's messenger bag. Kuro sighed and helped the Snivy into it's pokeball, before walking deeper into the abandoned construction site that the locals called the Dream Yard. Patrat and opened an eye, as if it was somewhat interested in what would happen to them here. 

He could always hear murmuring voices somewhere in the ruins the surrounded him, so he knew there were there people in the Dream yard, but he didn't meet anyone until about an hour into his wanderings. 

By then, he'd doubled back to the gate after meeting a dead end, and had walked along the concrete wall until he reached a hole big enough to fit a person through. It was practically hidden by a twisting tree, however, so Kuro had taken a bit of time climbing up it's admittedly thin branched to get through.

On the other side, he came face to face with someone he hadn't expected to be anywhere near Striaton City. Bianca blinked up at him in surprise, then broke into a wide grin.

“Kuro-kun!” She exclaimed, loudly. 

Kuro almost flinched at the large contrast to the past two hours of silence, before smiling back at her softly and beginning to make his way down the tree. Bianca met him at the base, holding out a hand to help him down the last jump. The blond girl beamed at him. 

“I didn't expect to see you here!” She told him. “I thought you'd go challenge the gym leaders first thing, like Cheren-nii.”

Kuro shook his head, lifting his hands to sign an explanation. He told her a few things about her day, then asked,  What are you doing here? I didn't expect to see you here, either.

Bianca nodded, lifting her eyes from his hands and straightening from her usual semi-slouched stance, like she always did when she was about to use sign language. 

I thought Striaton was a good place to look around and try to level up. She told him, then relaxed again with a smile. “Cheren's probably looking around the school, then, if that's what the waiter man told you. I'm here because I heard the Dream Yard was the best place to find Munna, a psychic-type pokemon. Usually, you'd find most of Unova Region's psychic-type wild pokemon in Celestial Tower, which is a long way away from here, but then I heard about Munna being sighted in the Dream Yard, and I got really excited! I remember reading about Munna in Cheren's pokemon index, and the picture was so cute! I really want it!”

Kuro nodded in understanding. Munna was suppose to have the very powerful ability of  **Telepathy** , which would come in handy sometimes. It also had the skill of  **Synchronize** , which would  _ definitely _ be a godsend in any pokemon Battle. Munna was also rumored to evolve into Musharna if you were lucky enough to find a Moonstone, and Musharna was a rather envied pokemon for various reasons. If you could teach it Hypnosis or Sleep, the attack was guaranteed to be  _ very _ effective. Kuro could see why Bianca would want to try and catch Munna—aside from the fact that it was cute.

Actually, now that he thought about it, Kuro realized his sister-figure might not even have thought about all those facts. She always was a sucker for the pretty pokemon.

Suddenly, there was a clang that echoed throughout the site, and both Kuro and Bianca startled. They blinked, glancing at one another. Kuro felt Kizoku's pokeball shudder in his bag, and he placed a hand on the opening flap in reassurance. 

“Did you hear that?” Bianca asked him in a hushed voice. She'd ducked down a bit and Kuro thought that maybe they didn't have to hide—but it sure felt like it. 

“Let's—wanna go see?” She asked, and Kuro spared no time in casting her a nod. She grinned, and they both slunk forward in silence. 

There was a lone, arched doorway a few meters ahead of them, and when they walked through it, they both froze in shock. Just a few feet away, a sleepy-looking Munna—not that that meant anything, since all Munna and even their evolutions were sleepy by nature—blinked up at them. It gave a short yawn and turned away.

“Mu _ nnnnn _ ,” it hummed in such a way that it even made Kuro feel slightly lethargic, and ambled forward to disappear into a large expanse of tall grass that much resembled the fields of it back in Nuvema. Kuro felt a sudden pang of homesickness in his chest, and looked away. 

“W-Wait!” Bianca called, moving to chase after the Munna. 

Instead, she stopped again, and Kuro looked up to see two Team Plasma members standing before them. He blinked.

They had the Munna grasped between them, and one of them was shaking it slightly. “C'mon, we've found you! Make some Dream Mist!”

Vultri hunched forward from her place on Kuro's shoulder, and the raven frowned. 

“ _ What are you doing _ ?” Bianca shouted at them, hands on her hips. The blond girl absolutely hated it when she saw others possibly mistreating a pokemon. “Who are you?”

“Us?” One of them, the one on the right of the distressed Munna, asked. “We're Team Plasma.”

The one on the left grinned, and Kuro resisted the urge to flinch. The smile had a cruel edge to it, but it didn't look very exercised. Like it was a mask that only was half glued on. “We Battle day and night to liberate pokemon from foolish humans!”

Bianca scowled. “You're those Plasma grunt guys?” She asked, almost in disbelief. 

The guy on the right shrugged. “I'd rather you not refer to us as 'grunts,' thanks. But, yes. We're Team Plasma, as I just said. You asked what we were  _ doing _ ?” He hefted Munna up and deposited the pokemon into the arms of his cohort. “Munna and Musharna emit a vapor called  _ Dream Mist _ . It shows peoples' dreams.”

The left one held Munna in a tight grip, smirking. “Leader Ghetsis has a plan to use it to make people release their pokemon!”

The right frowned, elbowing the other in the ribs. “Baka! We're not suppose to tell! What are you gonna do next, shout it from the rooftops?”

His friend growled at him, narrowing his eyes. “Che... Whatever! It doesn't matter, it's not like they can stop us anyway!” He shook the pokemon in his arms. “Now spit it out already, you useless creature!”

Everyone else, even his teammate, frowned at him. 

“What the hell are you doing?” The Team Plasma member yelled, reaching forward to stop his partner. “You're gonna hurt it!”

“Who cares?” Left guy huffed with a scowl. “All we need is the Dream Mist.”

“Team Plasma is about helping the pokemon,” Right guy seethed, snatching Munna from his tight grip. It was a bit of a tug-a-war session before the moaning pokemon came from. “Not  _ abusing _ them!”

“Oh, you actually believe that?” Guy on the left laughed—Kuro narrowed his eyes. He looked a little.. hesitant. As if he wasn't sure what he was suppose to believe. “Ghetsis is a liar. What he  _ really _ wants is to have all the pokemon for Team Plasma's use only.”

The other Plasma teammate's eyes widened. He paused, before scowling and stalking over to Kuro, thrusting the Munna into the younger teen's arms. “If that's true, then I don't want any part in team Plasma!” 

He took of his helmet to reveal somewhat spiky black hair and cinnamon eyes that glinted with barely suppressed rage and disbelief. “If even half of Team Plasma thinks that, then no way do I want a part in it! Any team with someone like you on it is rotten to the core!”

His ex-teammate looked on in shock. “Wh-What do you think you're doing?” He shouted. “Team Plasma needs that Munna for the Dream Mist!”

“Like hell it does,” The ex-member drawled, eyes narrowed from where he now stood before Kuro and Bianca. “Team Plasma's not getting it.”

“He's right!” Bianca yelled back. “You're hurting a pokemon just for Dream Mist? That's mean! You're a Trainer too, aren't you?”

The still helmeted teen bit his lip, before shaking his head in anger and crossing his arms. “That's right. I'm a Trainer, but I'm fighting for a different reason than you!”

“To have all the pokemon in Unova for yourself?” The red-eyed ex-member asked, scowling. “That's selfish! What do you thinks gonna happen then, huh? You're gonna battle with your own teammates? There won't even be any Champion to beat, there won't be any Pokemon League to rise above! That's a life without goals if I've ever heard one!”

“T-Team Plasma has the right idea in mind, though,” The other spluttered, hands now on his hips. He was rather expressive. So was his ex-teammate, in fact. “We'd give the Pokemon more freedom than they have now.”

“And then Unova will be full of wild Pokemon,” Bianca rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah, sure. Dream come true.”

“Well—” the Team Plasma member clenched his hands into fists, before letting out an enraged shout and grasping his helmet to fling it off. It landed on the ground with a thud. The teen, a redhead, glowered at them, emerald eyes bright with—well, Kuro didn't know. They looked a little misty, actually, and the teen looked very frustrated. “I-It doesn't matter. Team Plasma was a farce anyways.”

He turned away from them, crossing his arms again with a huff. Apparently he quit too. 

“C'mon Clemente,” the cinnamon-eyed soothed hesitantly, but he still looked angry, so it wasn't so reassuring. Kuro blinked, wondering why Bianca and him were even here—well, Bianca did say she wanted a Munna...

He turned to her while the two ex-Team Plasma members held a shouting match, holding out the now drowsy Munna for her to take. She looked at him, startled. 

“U-Um,” she bit her lip. “I-I actually think you should take that Munna, otouto. I-I don't think I'll be really good with a pokemon that's been hurt. You're gentler than me, and I don't wanna accidentally scare it.” 

Kuro tilted his head, as if to ask  _ Are you sure? _

Bianca paused, then nodded. She brightened. “Besides! There's lots of patches of tall grass here in the Dream Yard, so I'll probably run into a lot of wild pokemon! Maybe I'll catch a few new ones, and Battling them will definitely get my pokemon some experience!”

Kuro's keen ears twitched at a sudden drop in the volume around them, and he glanced over at the only other people in the area with them, blinking. The two Team Plasma—sorry, ex-Team Plasma members—had stopped shouting and were now eying them speculatively. 

The redhead, Clemente, huffed again. It appeared that his default mode was 'pissed off.' “It was all pretty  _ sketch _ anyway. Team Plasma was all about taking Pokemon by force, and stealing is against International law, so...  _ Tch _ , whatever,” he sneered, turning away and walking out of the clearing, heading for the trees. 

The black-haired one crossed is arms, huffing. “That guy...” He glared at the darkened woods, as if he could set the other on fire from where he stood. Then, he sighed and turned to Kuro and Bianca, who stood a few feet away, looking nonplussed. “Ah, s-sorry about that. Rival's a bit of a loose canon... And I probably made a big mistake joining Team Plasma anyway.”

Bianca frowned. “Wait, his named  _ Rival _ ? I thought it was Clemente.”

The raven waved his hand, rubbing the back of his neck with the other. “Ah, no, that's his last name.” He paused, blinking. Then, he scrambled for the trees where the other had disappeared to. “Ah, damn! Rival has my bag! Sorry, gotta go!”

Kuro and Bianca stared after him for a minute, feeling a little lost. Bianca turned to look at him. “That was weird,” she commented, and Kuro couldn't help but agree. Vultri was almost hanging off his shoulder, blinking after the two ex-Team Plasma members with wide, curious eyes. Apparently she didn't have a clue about what had just happened either. 

 

_** (~Pokemon~ ** _

 

Bianca and Kuro had parted at the gate of the Dream Yard, having walked back toward the entrance together. The blond girl had given him a tight hug, absently reminded him to take his medicine, and had then disappeared back behind the gates and into the abandoned construction zone after Kuro, in turn, warned her about climbing on what was leftover of the second floors. 

He walked back along the path toward Striaton City proper wondering about Team Plasma's true motives. Was Ghetsis actually lying, like Rival—what a strange name—had said, or was the redhead mistaken? The unnamed ex-Team Plasma grunt had seemed almost prepared to believe it, but what if they were both wrong? Kuro thought back to the green-haired teen he'd met in exiting Accumula Town, and shook his head. N, at least, didn't seem like the type to join such a cause—and he  _ was _ related to Ghetsis, wasn't he, so that meant that N was probably pretty high up in Team Plasma's ranking system, his... relative, being the leader. 

Then, Kuro wondered about the redhead himself. Rival Clemente had looked desperate to believe in something. Kuro almost felt bad for him. Rival, once blindsided by his partner's deserting—perhaps it had looked almost like betrayal, to the older teen. Kuro wasn't sure, but when his friend had promptly quit Team Plasma right in front of him, the redhead had looked a little hurt. Then, he'd covered it up with anger, before quitting Team Plasma himself in a fit of frustration. 

Rival was a mess of emotions, it seemed. He seemed like someone who wasn't sure of their place in the world—kind of like Kuro, actually. Kuro, though, reacted by reigning in his emotions so tightly that sometimes even he wondered if they were still there. Rival was a boy who had no where to place his frustration but outwards and onto the people and pokemon around him. 

He was also the boy who had just stepped into Kuro's path, green eyes glinting in the dark of the wooded area and a Battle Log in his gloved hands. Kuro tilted his head, reaching up to rub Vultri's ears when she started growling lowly. The Munna still snuggled in his arms shifted nervously.

“I'm Rival,” The teen, dressed in the knight-esque uniform of Team Plasma, announced. “Let's Battle.”

Kuro blinked at him, at a loss for what to do. He held up a finger, signaling for the other to wait a minute, before reaching into his bag and pulling out the bottle of pills Heiko always made him carry with him. It was almost half empty. He'd have to get a refill at Striaton Pharmacy after he challenged the gym leaders, maybe. 

Rival watched him swallow two of the red and blue capsules silently, tilting his head when Kuro stashed the bottle back in his bag and instead fished out his Battle Log. The redhead exchanged it for his own, asking, “What were those for.”

Kuro blinked, then hesitantly raised his hands to sign,  lung disease , not really expecting the other to understand what the hand signals meant—but to his utter surprise, Rival's eyes widened.

And then he raised his own hands to sign back.  I'm sorry for being rude. Can you hear?

Kuro closed his eyes, giving a nod. Rival relaxed, knowing that Kuro didn't need to read his lips, and grinned sheepishly. “I guess I should have asked, but I thought you were just a quiet person. It was stupid of me to just assume like that, though. I had a sister who was deaf.”

Kuro tilted his head at that, contemplating whether to ask, and then deciding it was rude of him to prod any further, and handing Rival back his log. 

Rival saw, though, and laughed mirthlessly. “Uh, yeah. She died... two years ago. We didn't have parents, so I joined Team Plasma last year because Jake did—the other guy. I bet he didn't introduce himself, the idiot. But then the jerk just up and quits the Team, and now I'm alone again...”

Kuro was releasing an irritated Lillipup from it's pokeball, and raised his eyebrows. Rival shook his head. “Jeez... Ahem, sorry. You're easy to talk to, I guess. What lung disease, if you don't mind me asking?”

Kuro shook his head, pulling out his note pad.  _ Emphysema _ .

Rival raised an eyebrow, and Kuro thought that the other had looked grateful for being allowed to change the subject, even as he looked relieved that Kuro hadn't apologized for hearing about his sister's death. Kuro always hated it when people apologized to him for things they weren't involved in in the first place, either. He hated getting told “I'm sorry” when people heard about his muteness, or lung disease. What were they sorry for?

“I don't think I've heard of that. What does it do?”

The gist of it? Well...  _ It makes me cough up blood, sometimes, if I don't take the pills when I'm supposed to.  _

Kuro wasn't sure why he was telling Rival this. He didn't usually hold conversations with anyone other than Cheren, Bianca, Ando or Heiko. 

The redheads eyes widened, and he winced. “Oh... Jeez, that sucks.” He stretched, popping his spine, and tossed his Battle Initiator into the air. There was a  _ whirrrr _ as it activated and began to hover, and there were blinking lights projected onto the ground until the holographic circles of a standard pokemon Battle formed. Rival tossed forth a pokeball as Lillipup clambered into the circle on Kuro's side of the path, and a Tranquill emerged from the flash of light. 

Kuro was impressed—he had yet to evolve any of his own pokemon. Perhaps Rival would be a challenge after all—not that Kuro had thought he wouldn't be, it was just that Kuro had yet to loose a pokemon Battle against anyone but Ando... and that one time Cheren had beaten him, back in the beginning. 

It was a close call, like Kuro had expected. Rival's Tranquill had fainted against Lillipup, who had in turn fainted against Rival's next pokemon, a Timburr. Kuro was forced to use Vultri, who blew the Timburr and Rival's final pokemon, a level 17 Drilbur and a level 20 Blitzle. Vultri had just reached level 26 the day before, had was pretty smug about it too. 

Rival was grinning once it was all over, though, so Kuro didn't feel too bad about using his eldest pokemon against him.

“That was great,” Rival nodded to himself while he selected Kuro as the winner on the younger's log. “I'll train hard, so I can beat you when we meet again,” he decided.

Kuro blinked, stunned that the older boy would choose beating Kuro as his personal goal, instead of the dream of challenging the region's Champion, like most others'. Rival saw his look and grinned. 

“Hey, hey, don't look like that! Now that I've Battled you, I know I was right. I thought you were an admirable Trainer, when I first saw you. You've proven that now, and I'd rather train to beat a Ace Trainer that I know is dedicated, like you, rather than some big shot champion that I barely even know the name of.”

The younger teen tilted his head, wondering at that. He suppose the other boy had a point, when he thought about it. He himself would rather Battle against those that he knew were going to be a challenge, rather than Battling against any random stranger who challenges him on the road. Kuro was a bit annoyed at that, really. Couldn't those people see he had a destination in mind? What if he'd been in a hurry?

Vultri nuzzled against his neck, and Kuro sighed. Even if he'd been in a hurry, Kuro would have accepted the challenge anyway. Kuro was rather terrible at telling others 'no,' and strangers always seemed to strong arm him into battling them anyways. 

He'd hate to meet a kidnapper, he really would. 

“I've gotta train,” Rival announced, and cast Kuro a genuine smile that made Kuro's inside feel warm. Kuro felt like he could breath again, having felt slightly burdened after seeing the lost expression in the redhead's eyes back in the Dream Yard. Knowing Rival had found a purpose, even if it was the short road to beating Kuro—he was pretty certain that if Rival tried hard enough, he'd beat Kuro's team into the dirt—made Kuro feel relieved in a way that he could stand at his true height once again. 

“See you!” And with little more than a grateful wave, Rival vanished back into the shadowed woods. 

Kuro sighed, burying his face into Munna's fluffy fur, wondering why he always ended up with the  _ strange _ ones. 

_** (~Pokemon~ ** _

 

Cheren was, in fact, in the Striaton City schoolhouse. He stood in front of the chalkboard, which had a diagram of the various  **Poison** attacks and their effects. His hands were clasped behind his back and he stood straight, every once in a while bringing forth one hand to push his glassed back into place. 

Kuro had been accosted by a brown haired Trainer near the entrance to the classroom who had insisted on giving Kuro a pop quiz about items that heal pokemon status conditions. It was an easy subject that Kuro had gone over in one of the books Heiko had lent him during the beginning of his stay with her. Her Chemistry textbook had been far more confusing, and not even as interesting and the various college books on engineering Eiji-san had left with her. 

The boy had looked a bit down once he saw Kuro had silently filled the paper out with all the correct answers, but surprised that raven Trainer with a free Full Heal for his efforts. Kuro had been meaning to buy a pack of them for when he challenged the gym leaders, and had thanked the boy with a bow, which seemed to make the younger Trainer a bit happier. 

Now he stood just behind Cheren, who was staring quite avidly at the diagram someone had drawn on the board. Kuro let out a silent sigh—Cheren already knew this, it was basic Trainer knowledge. If his brother kept going on like this, he'd run himself into the ground. He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around the blue-eyed teen, giving him a hug. He felt Cheren release a long breath. 

“A pokemon's health keeps on going down throughout a Battle, if it's been hit with a poison attack...” He murmured, then turned around and returned Kuro's embrace. “Ohaiyo, Kuro. Are you looking for the gym leader?”

Kuro blinked up at him, then shook his head. Cheren 's brows furrowed. “He was here talking about Pokemon types until just a few moments ago. In fact, you might have even run into him, just as he was leaving. Have you already challenged the gym leaders then?”

Again, Kuro shook his head. Cheren's frown deepened.

“Where have you been all day, then? I tried your transceiver but you didn't answer, so I assumed you were busy. Actually, now that I think about it, Bianca wasn't available either...”

Kuro released Cheren from his hug and sat down in the nearest desk, one in the front row. He pulled out his notebook and wrote down what had happened to him and Bianca in the Dream Yard. His writing skills were on par with that of a math teacher, and his letters formed with the elegance of a calligraphy master from all the time he spent writing. Kuro didn't mind much, though. Writing was something that calmed him down, and if it also served as another way of communication, then that was great. A win-win. 

Cheren's face paled as he read over the paragraph. “You and Bia-chan went into the Dream Yard and met with two grunts from  _ Team Plasma _ ?” He reaffirmed, flopping down into the desk next to Kuro. Kuro nodded, nonplussed, and the spectacled raven pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“You should have told me, I'd have gone with you guys! The Dream Yard is dangerous, you could have gotten hurt! It's a red-zone in construction for a  _ reason _ .”

Kuro hadn't known about the Dream Yard's safety hazard classification, but he decided not to tell Cheren that. Kuro wasn't exactly interested in irrelevant information, like Cheren was. He shook his head and took his notepad back. 

_ What are you doing here in the first place, going over basic stuff like this? I expected you to have already gotten the gym badge and to be on your way to the next gym by now. _

Cheren read the note, and bit his lips. “I need to train a little more before I challenge the gym leaders.”

Kuro blinked at him, then rolled his eyes, putting his pencil to paper once again.

_ Cheren, I think you're fine. Lots of Trainers challenge a gym multiple times, you don't have to defeat the leader on your first try.  _

“Ill look like a fool, if I don't,” the older teen blushed, and Kuro resisted the urge to busy his head in his arms. Instead, he jotted down another quick note. 

_ If it'll make you feel better, why don't we have a battle? Even if you don't win, which I'm pretty sure you will, I know you can't be as bad as you think you are. _

Cheren sighed, setting the pad down after running his eyes over the words. He reached up and adjusted his glasses. “Well... It can't hurt, I guess. Let's go outside.”

They both sat on the lawn outside the schoolhouse, and Kuro threw his Battle Initiator into the air. This would be a friendly, off-the-record match, so they forewent the Battle Logs. Cheren, Bianca and Kuro usually never recorded their Battles when they had them. 

When the match started, Cheren immediately tossed his Tepig, Moesashi, into the circle. Kuro rolled his eyes, seeing that the other boy had yet to get over his bad habit of starting a Battle with his starter pokemon. Kuro had seen the disadvantage in that, and had to keep reminding Cheren not to use his strongest first thing. 

Instead, Kuro nodded at his pokemon out on the grass. Munna curled on his lap and Vultri leaned int his side, keeping one eye open to watch the Battle while she settled down for a nap in the sunshine. Patrat seemed to want to follow her example, but the others had chosen him to go first. He was muttering incessant sounds under his breath as he stalked forth into the holographic circle. Lillipup settled down into the grass on the sidelines, looking rather smug, and Purrloin was pretty interested in the laces of Kuro's combat boots. 

During the match, Cheren experimented with various items in the hands of his Battling pokemon, and Moesashi had learned a new attack,  **Stab** , but in the end the older teen wasted too many of his turns having his Purrloin use  **Allure** and  **Tail Whip** , both relatively weak attacks, and Kuro won. Patrat had, as expected, fainted against Moesashi—who was admittedly rather powerful compared to the last Battle Kuro had had with Cheren—but Kuro's new Panpour, who'd gone up next, took the Tepig out with a Stab attack of it's own, which was more effective since it was a Physical attack. Kizoku had the attack too, with the same specifications, but the Snivy was settled inside Kuro's messenger bag, sans pokeball, taking a nap in the warmth, the black color of the material sucking up all the heat of the sunlight that hit it. 

Even though he'd lost, Cheren looked a bit brighter than he had back in the classroom in front of that chalkboard. Kuro smiled softly at him. 

“I think I've got a strategy now, Kuro-kun.” The bespectacled teen admitted, from his seat in the grass next to him. The few bystanders who had gathered closer to watch the match began to trickle away. “Thanks for helping me figure out what I've been doing wrong.” 

Kuro shrugged, giving Munna another pet. The pokemon  _ mnnnn _ 'ed happily. 

Kuro stopped by the Pokemon center with Cheren to get both their pokemon healed, and then Cheren was off to the gym to challenge the leader for a badge with a newfound confidence he'd been lacking before. Kuro waved to him as he left, then made his way over to the Center's shop while his pokemon healed. He invested in a pack of Full Heals, using the money he'd won from N, Rival, and some other Trainer's he'd run into who'd challenged him. Not all of it, of course—Full Heals were rather pricey but not that expensive—but enough to make his Patrat, who was once again clinging to his boot after scampering over from the healing dock, scowl. Little pokedollar miser. 

Vultri shot Kizoku a look, and the Snivy leaned over and swatted the rodent pokemon upside the head, earning a scratch for his efforts. He turned a wounded look toward Vultri, but she appeared entirely unsympathetic. Kizoku climbed up Kuro's leg and hid in his Trainer's messenger bag, next to the Full Heals. Kuro sighed, sitting down at the table near a bookcase and a magazine station to wait for his Panpour to heal. 

Half an hour later found Kuro standing in front of the gym. The large waiter man was there again, and he cast Kuro a curious look. Kuro blinked up at him and smiled sweetly from behind his lavender scarf, eyes slanting into sideways crescents. The burly waiter huffed and un-crossed his arms, looking away from him. 

“If you want to fight the gym leaders, you'll have to follow me,” the man announced, adjusting is sunglasses, before giving Kuro a wondering look. 

Kuro tilted his head and glanced to the side, thinking about it. On one hand, if he wanted to go no to the next town, he'd need to get this gyms badge now, since he knew he'd be annoyed to double back and get it later... 

On the other hand, of course, there was still so much of Striaton to see....

Vultri rolled her eyes and gently bit his hear, giving it a tug. Kuro nodded at the man, who turned around to open the door. He could always revisit Striaton later. He had an entire region to explore, after all. 

“My names Clyde,” the man told him as they walked over the threshold. “I'm the guide for Trainers challenging this pokemon gym.”

Kuro nodded and followed after him as they walked past the receptionist. They entered the double doors on the other side of the lobby and came to a room without any doors or windows. There were three circles on the floor and a red curtain with the symbol for fire on it on the other side of the room. The circles had three symbols inside them; fire, water, and grass. Kuro looked up at Clyde, tilting his head.

The man went on to explain. “The gym leader you'll Battle at the end is entirely dependent on what type your starter pokemon is. If you chose a grass-type, you'll fight against Gym Leader Chili; water-type and you'll Battle Cilan; fire-type and you'll match up against Cress. That's all the information I'm allowed to give you on the leaders before you start.”

He gestured to the circles on the ground, and continued. “Each section of the gym has a curtain separating it from the others with a type-symbol on it. You'll have to step on the symbol of the type that is strongest against the one of the curtain to move on. I'll be following you through each section in case you have any questions or are in need of medical assistance.”

Kuro blinked up at the burly man, tilted his head. Clyde stared down at him, and Kuro sometimes wanted to laugh because Clyde looked so curious and unnerved by him all the time. Kuro brought up his hands and asked Clyde if he knew sign language.

Clyde blinked, stunned, for a moment, before he broke into a slightly sheepish—shy?—grin. He brought his hands forward and asked if Kuro could hear or if he was only mute. Kuro smiled softly and answered accordingly. The man blushed in embarrassment and replied he'd be speaking both in sign language and aloud from now on so Kuro wouldn't be confused. Kuro was truly touched at his consideration. 

Kuro knew it was strange for him to think so, but he thought the large, muscular waiter/security man was absolutely adorable. 

He turned back to the room and stepped on the circle with the symbol for water in it. The floor sunk slightly downward and Kuro stepped back slightly to keep from stumbling. He turned to Clyde, who was red in the face. 

Sorry, I should have warned you. He said with both his hands and his voice. “Um, it does that.”

Kuro wanted to giggle, he really did. 

The next rooms were as Clyde had said. Kuro stepped upon the circles for, first water, then grass, grass again, fire, water twice in a row, and fire again. He ended up fighting three trainers that worked for the gym as both Trainers part of the gym puzzle, and waiters and waitresses for the restaurant above the gym. 

By the time he reached the end, Patrat had fainted and was unavailable for use in the match against the gym leader, and Purrloin was close. She was still able to fight, so Kuro might use her in the beginning, but he couldn't use her as a crutch if the Battle got difficult. 

He ended up in the last room and waited for the gym leader to come out. He sat down on a bench by the side of the door and decided to give Purrloin one of his Full Heals instead of keeping them for later like he'd had meant to. He hated to see her so exhausted. Patrat, he knew, would be completely content with sleeping the rest of the day(week) away inside it's pokeball, so Kuro left him alone. 

A bottle suddenly appeared in his line of vision, and Kuro blinked at it, startled. He followed the hand and arm it was attached to and ended up gazing up at a flustered-looking Clyde.

The large man—Kuro had now decided the waiter was a rather shy person, and tried not to place too much attention on him to make him more comfortable(though, that did beg the question; why was Clyde a gym guide and restaurant co-manager if he was so shy? Or was it just with Kuro? The teen wondered at that)—cleared his throat, waving the bottle of water slightly. Kuro tilted his head and accepted the drink.

“Battling is tiring for the Trainer too,” was all he said.

The double doors at the other end of the room opened, and a green haired chef dressed in a waiters' uniform—a bit fancier and more personalized than Clyde's was—stepped out of them. The older teen—he looked to be about sixteen—smiled over at him. 

“Hello, and welcome to Striaton Pokemon Gym.” The teen bowed with a friendly smile. Behind him, the door opened and two more teens around the same age stepped out beside him.

“My name is Cilan,” said the first one. “I use primarily grass-type pokemon.

“I'm Chili,” the one to his right said, giving a cheeky smile. “I light things up with fire-type pokemon.” He announced a bit smugly, shooting Cilan a superior look, to which the green-haired teen rewarded with a mild annoyed look. The blue haired one to Cilan's left sighed, shaking his head—apparently this was a normal occurrence. 

“I'm Cress, a water-type specialist” he told Kuro, and Kuro nodded. “What's your name?”

Kuro looked up at Clyde, who stood at his side, then took another drink from his bottle of water. Clyde cleared his throat and spoke to the three gym leaders(who by now looked rather puzzled. Clyde probably didn't usually stand next to the Trainers that challenged the gym, and they were wondering why. Kuro was just special. Kuro was Clyde's favorite. Vultri, still on her perch upon his shoulder, nipped his ear and silently told him to stop with the smug look). “This is Kuro. He uses sign language, bosses.”

Kuro smiled up at them sweetly(the only type of smile Kuro could adequately pull of, being of a mild kind) and took another sip of water. 

Cress blinked down at him, biting his lip almost imperceptively. He blinked again, then looked away with a blush. Kuro tilted his head. 

At that, Clyde crossed his arms and cough, looking away as well. Chili clasped his hands together with sparkling eyes and a wide, adoring smile and Cilan suppressed a grin. 

“Aw, you're so  _ adorable _ !” Chili squealed, launching off the raised floor before the double doors and tackling Kuro backward with an enthusiastic hug. 

“Ch-Chili!” Cress called, red-faced. “D-Don't  _ attack _ him like that!”

“I am not  _ attacking _ him!” Chili shot back with a glare, turning around with Kuro held tightly against his chest. “I'm hugging him! That's not a crime—if anything's a crime, then it's  _ not _ hugging him. Look at him! Kuro-kun is so  _ cute _ !”

Cress didn't answer. In fact, he only turned pinker, and turned away once more, following Clyde's lead and crossing his arms while he was at it. 

Cilan laughed good-naturedly. “Okay, Chili. We need to decide which of us he'll Battle!”

“ _ Ooooo _ , I wanna! Please?” The redhead turned back to Kuro, a pleading look on his face. Kuro bit his lips and giggled silently, and Chili's eyes morphed into stars again. “Oh,  _ pleaaassse _ ?!”

“Chili!” Cress snapped, coughing. “It depends on his starter type!”

Chili released Kuro, who had begin to have trouble breathing and was worried his illness was acting up—this would be a really terrible time for him to start coughing up blood—and clasped his hands together, closing his eyes as if he were praying. “Please, please  _ please _ have grass type,  _ pleaaaase _ ...”

Kuro couldn't help it, knowing he had chosen Snivy as his starter, and buried his face in his hands, laughing. 

“Hey, you okay?” Cilan had jumped down the step and had placed a hand on his shoulder. Cress was still on the upper level, back turned to the scene and arms crossed, shoulders hunched slightly forward. Kuro only smiled up at Cilan and pulled the snoozing Kizoku from his messenger bag. 

Chili shouted out a “ _ Yes _ ! Thank you  _ thankyou _ !” and tugged Kuro back into a hug that was particularly smothering. 

Cress had, by then, sidled his way over to Clyde and stood next to the burly waiter, both with their arms crossed and looking away with identical looks of “no, no, don't look, stay strong” on their faces—Clyde's face was, admittedly, far redder than Cress' shade of pink. 

The match went well, all things considered. Kuro had been sure he'd loose his first time—especially since Chili seemed to be giving the Battle his all. In the end, though, Kuro's Panpour had defeated the redhead's Pansear, it being weak against water-types. 

All four Trainers had been interested in the way Kuro Battled, silently and skilled. After they handed Kuro's his Trio Badge, the badge for Striaton's gym, they'd invited him to lunch with them in the restaurant above. 

Well,  _ Cilan _ had invited him. Cress and squeezed his eyes shut and mumbled “I'm not gonna last through an entire meal”—Kuro was a little concerned for him and Clyde, actually. Were they sick or something? Clyde might have a fever; they shouldn't be working today!—and Chili had given him no time to considered denying their request. The redhead and practically carried Kuro upstairs and sat him down at the nearest free table—or, Chili had sat down and then placed Kuro in his lap. 

Vultri leaped onto the table from Kuro's head and puffed up, glaring at the enthusiastic redhead. Cilan was laughing as he took a seat to their left, and Cress his his face and he hesitantly sat down in the chair to Chili and Kuro's left. Clyde placed menus before each other them and then took a small step back—either waiting for their orders or extremely reluctant to leave. 

Kuro sighed and resigned himself to being held by his new adoring fan—wasn't it suppose to be the other way around? Exactly  _ who _ was the region-famous gym leader here, anyway?—for the rest of the meal. Chili held the menu before them, told Clyde he'd have his usual, then helped Kuro pick a dish. He described them all in detail, with Cilan and sometimes even a hesitant Cress adding a comment here or there. Kuro eventually picked a pasta dish that used Alfredo sauce and came with grilled chicken and a side of French onion soup. Kuro liked soup. Soup was easy to eat. Pasta, too. 

Clyde set a basket of breadsticks on the table and Kuro picked on up to nibble on, leaning back against Chili's chest. All three gym leaders were at least two heads taller than he was, and Clyde was practically twice his size on a good day. Out of all three of their hairstyles, he liked Cress' the most; he thought Cilan had the most welcoming face and smile; Chili's eyes sparkled with youth and a hidden gentleness, and he was definitely a cuddler. 

Kuro tried to avoid the rest of the restaurant customers that sat around the room—thee was a good twenty other tables occupied—and eventually turned and buried his face into Chili's shirt after his finished half the bread stick. 

“...Honestly, Chili,” Cress sighed heavily, as if giving into some unknown, iron-willed force. He rested a hand on Kuro's back and shot his—friend? Brother?—colleague a sharp look. “You barely let him even answer. Look, he must be embarrassed at all the attention.”

Chili paused in his chatter, blinking as he looked around them room. He tightened his hold on Kuro slightly, and narrowed his eyes. “Hmph. They can deal with it. Kuro's my favorite.”

“Chili,” Cilan frowned from his other side, and Kuro felt the redhead slump a little. 

Chili sighed and rested his cheek against Kuro's head, skillfully ignoring the dirty looks the Victini, Snivy and a Patrat were sending him from across the table. And the weight of the strangely alert Lillipup and Munna that were pressing up against his legs. And the Panpour that sat in the fifth chair, eyes barely level with the table and a harsh glare on it's normally cute face. And the Purrloin that, while purring contently in Cilan's arms, would occasionally glance in his direction with a strange, fierce glimmer in it's eyes that promised pain should Chili make any sudden movement. “Sorry, Kuro. I should have let you decided instead of stealing you like that... You're pokemon are really  _ scary _ .”

Kuro sat up, blinking., He tilted his head at his pokemon, who looked anything but intimidating. Vultri was mediating a practically  _ mild _ conversation between Kizoku and his Patrat, Munna and Lillipup were huddled beneath the table, resting slightly on Chili's feet and Purrloin was napping on Cilan's knee. He cast a confused glance at the pouting Chili.

“Aw, that's unfair. That's cheating,” he accused the pokemon, who smirked at him from over Kuro's shoulders. 

Kuro frowned at the redhead and gently tapped the side of his head with a loosely held fist. Chili slumped. 

“You win, you win.” He glowered at the smug pokemon.  _ For now _ .

Clyde soon arrived with Kuro's meal and Chili, Cress, and Cilan's usuals—which were lasagna, crab puffs and grilled salmon, and olive pesto receptively.

Kuro took his time eating, listening to Chili hold a conversation with Clyde and poke fun at Cilan. He watched Cress mediate between the green haired and redheaded restaurant co-owners, much like Vultri and sometimes Purrloin would referee the spats between his other pokemon. He took another bit of his pasta and tilted his head when Cilan and Chili got into an argument about which seasonings use in the soup recipe they were experimenting with, which soon morphed into a debate on whether fire-type or grass-type pokemon were strongest... somehow. 

Cress was the quieter one and soon let out a resigned sigh, sitting back in his seat and munching wordlessly on a crab puff. Kuro liked him—not that he didn't like the other two(Clyde was the best, Kuro was his favorite— _ Shh, Vultri, here have a breadstick _ ) but Cress was of the silenter types. Kuro adored the noise Cilan and Chili were making, sure, but Cress was a welcome addition. If the azure -haired teen hadn't been of the trio, Kuro probably would not have been able to deal with the other two. It was the same way he could only deal with Bianca on a daily basis because Cheren was there to quiet her down when she got grating(he loved Bianca, he really did, but sometimes Kuro's headaches got to be too much, and Cheren and Ando were usually the only ones to notice, being the quieter ones of Nuvema).

Kuro blinked slowly and then allowed the yawn that was threatening to break his jaw apart out. He gave a silent sigh and curled up against his human chair, eyes fluttering closed. If Chili and Cilan's argument had a sudden lull in noise, then continued on a bit quieter—well, Kuro wouldn't know. He'd already nodded off. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There' go.   
> Yeah, no N in this chapter, sorry. Cilan's my favorite of the Trio, usually, but I think I love all three of them equally with the way I wrote them—And I've always adored Clyde. He's my favorite. Clyde is bae~  
> Anyway, I honestly did not expect this chapter to be out so soon, what with my habit of not updating a story for many many months, so geez, how lucky are you guys?!  
> I've decided to make Na and Kuro a couple—but it'll be slow going, and the level of romance in this story is up for debate because I honestly think I suck at that genre *smiles nervously* Haha~  
> Read and review, please!

**Author's Note:**

> I have no clue when I'll update, but I can say with certainty that this story will be finished eventually. As all my stories will, because they're my babies and like hell am I abandoning them :P  
> I won't apologize for taking a long time to update, if it does take me a long time. I have school, and I'd rather not fall behind again after just catching up. So many sleepless nights...  
> I DO have a question for you, though. I've already decided Kuro and N will have a close friendship bond, but I just wanted to know if any of you wanted this to be yaoi. Because I can totally write that, if you want it, just like I can totally keep it platonic between them, if you don't. It's your guy's choice—I'll be writing different scenes for it anyway. If the majority of you decide NO YAOI, then I'll be writing an alternate end that includes yaoi for those of you who do—but the main story will have the platonic friendship ending.   
> Anyway, that's still all pretty far off. I just wanted to know.   
> Please review and tell me what you want, and also give me your answer!  
> There are of course some grammatical and spelling mistakes. Nobodies perfect, and I'd love to have a beta reader for this. But beta's are always so finicky.


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